Opinion ID: 2737007
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lynx

Text: In analyzing each proposed project’s effect on lynx, the agency considered the total effects on lynx analysis units touched by the project. A lynx analysis unit (“LAU”) is a large area that approximates the home range of a female lynx and contains sufficient habitat to support lynx survival and reproduction. The Soldier Addition Project affected portions of three LAUs on one side of the river (covering approximately 122 square miles); the Spotted Bear Project affects portions of four different LAUs on the other side of the river (covering approximately 174 square miles). The LAUs were not determined with reference to either project. Rather, over a decade ago the agency divided the Flathead National Forest into LAUs using the best-available science. The boundaries of the LAUs remain constant and are not adjusted for individual projects. Because a single LAU may be too small to assess fully direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts, and because lynx wander outside the boundaries of a single LAU, the lynx guidance documents indicate that “project impacts must be assessed within the context of two or more LAUs.” As noted, here the Forest Service used three and four LAUs per project. The agency did not act arbitrarily and capriciously by defining the geographic scope for studying cumulative effects in this fashion. The groups of LAUs for each project cover several thousand acres, the boundaries were developed independent of these projects, and there is no overlap between the three LAUs touched by the Soldier Addition Project and the four LAUs affected by the Spotted Bear Project. Although Wild Swan argues the agency should have also considered effects from the neighboring project because the FRIENDS OF THE WILD SWAN V. WEBER 13 lands are adjacent, the agency has to draw a line somewhere and has offered a reasonable justification for why it drew the line where it did. See Inland Empire Public Lands Council v. USFS, 88 F.3d 754, 764 & n.14 (9th Cir. 1996) (noting it would be difficult to determine when land stops being “adjacent”). Lynx may roam beyond the boundaries of an individual LAU, but that is why the guidance documents recommend the use of multiple units, as the Forest Service did here. In addition, as noted above, expanding the analysis area further would work to dilute the project’s apparent environmental impact. See Selkirk, 336 F.3d at 960. The selection of these geographic areas for considering cumulative effects on lynx was neither arbitrary nor capricious, and Wild Swan has not demonstrated a likelihood of success or serious questions going to its NEPA claim with respect to lynx.