Opinion ID: 615194
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overall Motorized Use Mileage

Text: The district court concluded that the Service was required to prepare a supplemental draft EIS because the final decision reduced total mileage open for motorized travel by nearly thirty percent beyond the most restrictive DEIS alternative. According to the court, the most restrictive alternative considered in the DEIS (summer alternative 4) permitted motorized use on 1951 miles, and the least restrictive DEIS alternative (summer alternative 1) permitted motorized use on 3036 miles. The court found that the final decision, which allowed motorized use on just 1366 miles, fell outside the range of alternatives considered in the DEIS, summarizing the figures as follows: Total Miles Designated by Vehicle Type Passenger 4X4 ATV Motorcycle Total Summer 1 1523 514 260 739 3036 Summer 4 955 397 262 337 1951 Decision 741 178 222 225 1366 The Service argues that the DEIS total mileage figures relied on by the district court are inappropriate for comparison to the 1366 mileage figure for the final plan because they double count route miles that are open to several motorized uses. As we have noted, under the travel plan lower-level vehicles can use routes designated for higher-level vehicles. Thus, for example, a route that is open to both motorcycle and ATV use is counted twice in the mileage totals relied on by the district court. The Service has offered numbers that avoid double counting, and these numbers show that the 1366 total motorized route miles permitted in the final decision fall within the range of alternatives discussed in the DEIS: Total Miles Designated for Motorized Use Summer 1 2262 Summer 3 1774 Summer 4 1287 Summer 5 1441 Decision 1366 The recreational groups offer no credible reason to doubt either the accuracy of the Service's mileage figures, which are supported by the administrative record, or the Service's assertion that the numbers relied on by the district court are inappropriate for comparison to the 1366 figure because they reflect double counting. We therefore credit the Service's mileage figures. As a consequence, the overall motorized use miles authorized by the travel plan are within the range of alternatives included in the DEIS. The district court's finding of a NEPA violation therefore inadvertently relied on a mistaken premise. [13]