Opinion ID: 2821421
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Timber Demand

Text: Likewise, the USDA’s determination that applying the Roadless Rule to the Tongass would have led to a timber shortage was not arbitrary and capricious. The majority fails to even acknowledge the agency’s effort to promote timber production, a factor which, by itself, suffices to uphold the agency’s 2003 rulemaking. 60 ORGANIZED VILLAGE OF KAKE V. USDA “A court generally must be ‘at its most deferential’ when reviewing scientific judgments and technical analyses within the agency’s expertise.” N. Plains Res. Council, Inc. v. Surface Transp. Bd., 668 F.3d 1067, 1075 (9th Cir. 2011) (citation omitted). The USDA calculated that the average annual timber harvest in the Tongass between 1980 and 2002 was 269 million board feet (MMBF), which was higher than usual. The USDA estimated that in the years following the Roadless Rule, demand for timber would fall, but that demand would still be at least 124 MMBF. The USDA found that if the Roadless Rule were applied to the Tongass, the maximum timber harvest would be 50 MMBF, which would create a shortage of around 75 MMBF. The agency concluded that exempting the Tongass from the Roadless Rule would allow infrastructure to be built and boost timber production to meet national demand. 68 Fed. Reg. at 75,141–42.