Opinion ID: 4541138
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Old Growth

Text: Turning first to Wild Watershed’s claims with respect to old growth, HFRA mandates that the Forest Service “maximize[] the retention of old-growth and large trees, as appropriate for the forest type, to the extent that the trees promote stands that are resilient to insects and disease.” 16 U.S.C. § 6591b(b)(1)(A). The statute further requires the projects “be consistent with the [applicable] land and resource management plan.” Id. § 6591b(e). Here, that is the Santa Fe National Forest Plan (Forest Plan), which provides numerous criteria governing treatments of areas containing or being developed as old growth forest. Under the Forest Plan, the Forest Service must, “strive to create or sustain as much old growth compositional, structural, and functional flow as possible over time at multiple-area scales” and “seek to develop or retain old growth function on at least 20 percent of the forested area by forest type in any landscape.” App. at 246. Although “[t]hinning is permitted in stands being -25- managed for old growth when the result will enhance attainment of the old growth characteristics. No treatments should occur in a stand managed for old growth once the stand has achieved minimum structural characteristics of old growth.” Id. We begin with the threshold issue—whether the project areas include any old growth forests. The Forest Service classifies the forest in the project area as “young” based on the use of the Vegetative Structural Stage (VSS) methodology, which uses tree diameter most frequently represented to determine the age of a stand of trees. Where, as here, the forest contains a high prevalence of young trees, this method results in a classification of “young” despite the existence of older trees. Wild Watershed takes issue with this, arguing that because there are some ponderosa pines over 180 years-old—the threshold age to be considered “old growth” under the Forest Plan—in the area, it is nonsensical to classify the forest as young. 13 We do not agree that such a classification is facially arbitrary or capricious. Under Wild Watershed’s logic, the Forest Service would be precluded from classifying a forest as young due to the presence of a single older tree. Moreover, 13 Although it critiques the methodology used to classify the forest as young, Wild Watershed does not contest the fact that there are too few old trees in the project area to qualify as old growth under the Forest Plan. App. at 247 (stating that for ponderosa pine stands—the most common in the project areas—there must be at least 20 trees per acre that are 18 inches or greater in diameter at breast height and 180 years old to qualify as old growth). -26- we cannot second guess the Forest Service’s classification in this instance. Where challenged agency decisions “involve technical or scientific matters within the agency’s area of expertise,” our deference to the agency is “especially strong.” Biodiversity Conservation All. v. Jiron, 762 F.3d 1036, 1060 (10th Cir. 2014). Wild Watershed argues that the VSS methodology is “most frequently” used to assess stands that, unlike those at issue, are “even aged stands.” Aplt. Br. at 36. Such a methodology, it argues, has “limited applicability for fuel reduction treatments.” Id. But such contentions are insufficient to override the requisite deference we give to an agency’s technical choices, and they fail to show the Forest Service’s reliance on the VSS methodology renders its decision arbitrary or capricious. The fact that a particular methodology has limited applicability or might be most frequently used in another context casts some doubt on whether it is the best approach, but falls short of showing the agency engaged in “a clear error of judgment,” “fail[ed] to consider an important aspect of the problem,” or “offer[s] an explanation . . . that . . . is so implausible that it could not be ascribed to a difference in view or the product of agency expertise.” Dombeck, 185 F.3d at 1167; San Juan Citizens All. v. Stiles, 654 F.3d 1038, 1045, 1057 (10th Cir. 2011) (“[W]hen specialists express conflicting views, an agency must have discretion to rely on the reasonable opinion[] of its own qualified experts, even if, as an -27- original matter, a court might find contrary views more persuasive.” (quoting Marsh v. Or. Nat. Res. Council, 490 U.S. 360, 378 (1989))). Perhaps recognizing this, Wild Watershed argues that it does not matter whether the forest is classified as old growth, because “even in areas where there is no existing old growth, the [Forest] Service must still manage the best available developing old growth habitat.” Aplt. Br. at 24. It argues the Forest Service has failed to do this because the treatments will harm old growth development. We reject this argument because Wild Watershed cannot show that the projects at issue are inconsistent with any of HFRA’s or the Forest Plan’s directives. Taking HFRA first, Wild Watershed glosses over an important limitation in the statutory language. The Forest Service is only required to “maximize the retention of . . . large trees . . . to the extent that the trees promote stands that are resilient to insects and disease.” 16 U.S.C. § 6591b. Here, the projects are specifically designed “so that the risk of insect and disease outbreak[s] [will be] reduced.” App. at 43. Without the treatments, the “high density of trees in the project area[s] . . . and the prevalence of small diameter trees” will continue to “contribute to conditions that elevate the risk for insect and disease outbreaks.” App. at 142. Indeed, “[t]he risk of tree mortality from insects/diseases, particularly bark beetles, is expected to increase in the project area[s]” unless something is done. Id. In short, it is clear from the record that, left untreated, the -28- forests in the project areas do not “promote stands that are resilient to insects and disease.” 16 U.S.C. § 6591b. Accordingly, the Forest Service’s decision to treat the forest in the project areas is consistent with HFRA’s directives, even to the extent it has some impact on large trees. Turning to the requirements of the Forest Plan, the record demonstrates the Forest Service has adequately considered old growth and structured the projects to retain and develop such growth consistently with the Forest Plan’s directives. Both projects involve treatments that “favor retention of the largest, healthiest fire tolerant species.” App. at 144. For both, “[o]ld growth forest [will] be maintained or promoted.” Id. at 121. No trees over 16 inches in diameter will be thinned, unless certain unusual circumstances such as poor health warrant it. Although some of the large trees may succumb to the prescribed burns, these are designed to be low-intensity fires, which the large ponderosa pines—the oldest trees in the areas—are well equipped to endure. Id. at 100 (“Larger pine trees would likely not be killed during burning due to fire-resistant bark.”). Moreover, the treatments will be beneficial in that they will “encourage the remaining trees to grow into larger diameters.” Id. at 145. Accordingly, the projects are consistent with the Forest Plan’s mandate to “sustain as much old growth compositional, structural, and functional flow as possible over time at -29- multiple-area scales” and enhance the attainment of old growth characteristics. 14 Id. at 246. The projects are similarly consistent with the Forest Plan’s directive to “seek to develop or retain old growth function on at least 20 percent of the forested area by forest type in any landscape.” Id. The record reveals that a “landscape” varies in size, but generally refers to “contiguous areas of several to 1,000 stands.” App. at 260. Meanwhile a stand covers anywhere from 4 to 100 acres. Id. Accordingly, a landscape may refer to an area as large as 100,000 acres. This is consistent with the Forest Service’s use of the term to refer to the entire Fireshed. The project areas at issue here, by contrast, are much smaller, covering collectively only 3,882 acres. Accordingly, the Forest Service’s failure 14 Wild Watershed cites the “decadence” in these woods, suggesting it is the natural result of the areas remaining untouched by human interference for centuries. But these overly dense stands of unhealthy trees are not natural. Such conditions stem from more than a century of human intervention in the form of fire suppression. And now the unnatural conditions threaten the very older trees that Wild Watershed seeks to protect. App. at 100 (noting that under current conditions “large tree loss would continue over long term due to competition, insects and disease”). Wild Watershed argues that the treatments will forever prevent the areas from attaining old growth characteristics, but it has the logic backward. The projects seek only to realign the forest composition and fire cycle with the historical norm. Far from preventing ponderosa pines (the only stands potentially close to attaining old growth characteristics in the project areas) from developing, the treatments aim to do just that. It is only under the current conditions—those favored by Wild Watershed—that the record shows no young ponderosa pines will be able to propagate and grow. App. at 95 (noting that “ponderosa pine regeneration is sparse to non-existent” because “[p]onderosa pine is shade intolerant and unable to regenerate under a dense canopy”). -30- to set aside 20 percent of each project to be managed for old growth does not run afoul of the Forest Plan’s mandate, as it is obvious that the Forest Service can still comply with this requirement at the landscape level. Accordingly, Wild Watershed fails to show the Forest Service acted arbitrarily or capriciously with respect to any old growth requirements.