Opinion ID: 3065421
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The District Court’s Task.

Text: Plaintiffs argue that the 2006 Management Plan is unlawful and should be set aside. The court’s task is not to make its own judgment about whether motorized rafts should be allowed in the Colorado River Corridor. Congress has delegated that responsibility to the Park Service. The court’s responsibility is narrower: to determine whether the Park Service’s 2006 Management Plan comports with the requirements of the APA, 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq. The APA does not allow the court to overturn an agency decision because it disagrees with the decision or with the agency’s conclusions about environmental impacts. Vt. Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 435 U.S. 519, 555 (1978) (citing Kleppe v. Sierra Club, 427 U.S. 390, 410 n.21 (1976)). An agency’s decision may be set aside only if it is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). The standard is deferential. The court “may not substitute its judgment for that of the agency concerning the wisdom or prudence of [the agency’s] action.” Or. Envtl. Council v. Kunzman, 817 F.2d 484, 492 (9th Cir. 1987). In conducting an APA review, the court must determine whether the agency’s decision is “founded on a rational connection between the facts found and the choices made . . . and 1796 RIVER RUNNERS v. MARTIN whether [the agency] has committed a clear error of judgment.” Ariz. Cattle Growers’ Ass’n v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife, 273 F.3d 1229, 1243 (9th Cir. 2001). “The [agency’s] action . . . need only be a reasonable, not the best or most reasonable, decision.” Nat’l Wildlife Fed. v. Burford, 871 F.2d 849, 855 (9th Cir. 1989). Plaintiffs assert that the 2006 Management Plan is arbitrary and capricious under the APA because it violates the Park Service’s own policies, the National Park Service Concessions Management and Improvement Act (“Concessions Act”), and the National Park Service Organic Act (“Organic Act”). Each of these arguments will be addressed separately, and this opinion is precedential only as to those issues appealed.