Opinion ID: 167714
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Dixie National Forest Plan

Text: 10 As the Forest Service points out, the Plan imposes several obligations on the forest, with specific instructions for protecting the northern goshawk. It is undisputed that the Forest Service considers the northern goshawk a sensitive species. The duty to ensure viable populations applies with special force to sensitive species. Inland Empire Pub. Lands v. U.S. Forest Serv., 88 F.3d 754, 759 (9th Cir. 1996) (internal quotation marks omitted). 11 The Plan's requirements of particular relevance to this appeal are: 12 1. establishing the northern goshawk as a management indicator species (MIS), Aplts' App. at A-16; 1 13 2. imposing forest-wide ongoing monitoring obligations for MIS, including the northern goshawk, id.; 14 3. requiring annual nest surveys for goshawks, if the population is near the minimum level, and nest surveys every two to five years in project areas, id.; 15 4. requiring further evaluation if there is a ten percent decline in the estimate forest-wide goshawk population size over a three-year period and for loss of important habitat components, id.; 16 5. requiring annual monitoring by means of a [v]ariable strip transect, which involves the use of a linear transect of a predetermined distance, id.; and 17 6. incorporating the requirements of the Utah Northern Goshawk Conservation Strategy and Agreement for the Management of [the] Northern Goshawk Habitat in Utah (the Conservation Strategy), which also imposes annual population monitoring requirements, id. at A-33 to A-51. The purpose of the Conservation Strategy 18 is to attain the goal of long-term conservation of the northern goshawk, its habitat and associated species throughout Utah through proactive management. Conservation of the Northern goshawk and its habitat will require improving degraded habitat conditions, maintaining and/or expanding populations.... Achievement of the desired habitat conditions contained within the strategy will provide that habitat is available to sustain viable goshawk populations in the State of Utah. 19 Id. at A-49. 20 The Conservation Strategy states, when developing site specific prescriptions... the management recommendations for the northern goshawk in the Southwest United States (Reynolds et al.1992) should be used. Id. at A-35. These recommendations are contained in a 1992 Forest Service report titled Management Recommendations for the Northern Goshawk in the Southwestern United States (the Reynolds Report). Id. at A-52. The Reynolds Report's recommendations represent the best available scientific information for forming the development of site prescriptions and should be considered a component of [the Conservation Strategy]. Id. at A-38 to A-39. 21 The Reynolds Report lists several management recommendations for the three types of goshawk habitat: nest areas, post-fledgling family areas, and foraging areas. Should there be logging, the Conservation Strategy recommends the thinning of understory trees rather than thinning from above. Id. at A-58. Specifically, the Plan seeks to maintain [f]unctioning forested landscapes [to] provide habitat for the northern goshawk and its prey to support a viable population of goshawks in Utah. Aples' Supp.App. vol. I, at 8443. 22 The Conservation Strategy acknowledges that [w]here site specific conditions differ from those described [in the Reynolds Report], the [Forest Service] must interpret and document [its] own specific value based on local data ... using the 1992 habitat evaluation process [set forth in the Reynolds Report]. Aplts' App. at A-39. 23 In discussing the northern goshawk habitat, the Reynolds Report describes six vegetation structural stages (VSS) of southwestern forests. Those structural stages range from VSS 1—in which a forest is dominated by grasses, forbs and shrubs—to VSS 5 (a mature forest) and VSS 6 (an old forest). Id. at A-59. The report states that desired forest conditions for sustaining northern goshawks and their principal prey species require twenty percent of VSS 6, such as older spruce-firs in the post-fledgling goshawk area and foraging area. 24 In 1982, when the Plan was adopted, the Forest Service estimated that there were 68 pairs of northern goshawks in the Dixie National Forest. The minimum viable population was established at 40 pairs. Id. at A-17. All parties agree that according to the most recent assessment in 2002, the goshawk population hovered at 20-30 pairs. Id. at A-70.