Opinion ID: 3051166
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Resource Management Plan—Hazard

Text: Education Program The other policy cited by the Terbushes is the 1993 Resource Management Plan, which they claim mandated a one-year period for implementing a geologic hazards education program based on the observation that “there exist serious geologic hazards to human safety along park roads and in Yosemite Valley in particular.” Notably, the introductory paragraph on “Management Objectives,” states: “[t]hese management objectives are used to guide the development of the management strategies, action plans, and project statements in subsequent sections of the Resource Management Plan.” (emphasis added). Thus, while a specific time-frame of one year is mentioned in the section addressing geologic hazards, viewed in its proper context, the one-year time frame is not mandatory as it falls within a chapter on “objectives,” i.e., broad goals meant to “guide” park managers in implementing the management plan, and thereby calling upon them to continue to exercise their discretion in implementing the plan in the various subject areas it addresses. [21] Even if the one-year deadline were viewed as a mandatory and specific directive, the NPS retained discretion in how to implement this directive, which would necessitate further decisions and actions protected by the discretionary function exception. See, e.g., Miller, 163 F.3d at 595 (standards and procedures did outline certain requirements for fire suppression, but did “not eliminate discretion because they do not tell firefighters how to fight the fire,” i.e., in a “specific manner and within a specific period of time.”). As the court in Miller noted, “[t]he existence of some mandatory language does not eliminate discretion when the broader goals sought to be achieved necessarily involve an element of discretion.” Id. Accordingly, we do not read the provisions calling for a 1562 TERBUSH v. UNITED STATES hazard education program to create a mandatory and specific duty, and conclude that the discretion the NPS had in implementing this program is “susceptible” to the policy considerations of the regulatory regime established by the Organic Act. AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART and REMANDED. Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal.