Opinion ID: 742736
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Wilderness Study for Burke Branch (Count VII)

Text: 151 The plaintiffs argue that the Forest Service has violated the 1988 Settlement Agreement by failing to designate the Burke Branch area for wilderness study as provided in the agreement. Although the ALRMP offers several explanations for deciding against this designation, the plaintiffs argue that all of these explanations are based upon information that was known at the time that the Forest Service entered into the agreement. Thus, the plaintiffs argue that at the very minimum, the Forest Service should have explained why it found those explanations more persuasive when adopting the ALRMP than when it entered into the Settlement Agreement in 1988. 152 The Forest Service admits that it agreed, as part of the 1988 settlement, to designate Burke Branch for wilderness study but states that this agreement was subject to further review pursuant to the NFMA and NEPA. (Appeal Settlement Agreement at 2 (stating that [a]ny amendments or changes to the Forest plan ... will be carried out through the proper procedures in accordance with the requirements of the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and other appropriate laws and regulations.).) After completing the environmental analysis set forth in the FSEIS, the regional forester ultimately determined that Burke Branch is not a good candidate for Wilderness, because its characteristics are better suited for other uses, including a management of natural openland ecosystems, mineral production, and motorized recreation. (ROD for ALRMP at 22.) 153 Because the 1988 Settlement Agreement was conditioned upon compliance with NEPA and the NFMA, the Court finds that the Forest Service did not violate the agreement when it decided against wilderness study for Burke Branch based upon the findings in the FSEIS. For the same reason, it cannot be said that the Forest Service's change of heart was arbitrary or capricious. To the contrary, the regional forester has provided several rational justifications that have a sound basis in the FSEIS: 154 This area has a dense system of improved and unimproved roads that make the area more suitable for motorized recreation use than Wilderness. The need for extensive burning, shade removal, and other vegetative management within Research Natural Areas, natural areas, and natural openland ecosystems at Burke Branch conflict with Wilderness management. Over 23 percent of the Burke Branch area is nonnative pine plantations. This pine and the extensive road system is not consistent with the natural appearance desired within Wilderness. Burke Branch also has high potential for the mineral Fluorspar. Fluorspar is classified as being of compelling domestic significance by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and production of fluorspar is important to the local economy. 155 (ROD for ALRMP at 21; see also FSEIS App. at C-3 to C-11.) Although the majority of this information may have been known at the time that the Forest Service entered into the 1988 Settlement Agreement, there is no indication that the agency had given such information the hard look that an EIS is designed to provide. Thus the Forest Service cannot be faulted for changing its opinion after making the thorough and comprehensive analysis required by NEPA. 156 Moreover, the 1988 Settlement Agreement provides its own remedy, stating that if the Forest Service failed to amend the Forest Plan as provided in the agreement, that portion of the Agreement not enacted as provided herein shall be null and void and all obligations under it discharged, and all rights of any party to appeal or seek judicial review ... remain as they were on the effective date of this Agreement. (Appeal Settlement Agreement at 26.) Thus, the plaintiffs' recourse is to challenge that portion of the ALRMP as if there were no Settlement Agreement, i.e., they must demonstrate that the Forest Service's reasons for refusing to designate Burke Branch for wilderness study were arbitrary and capricious. They have not done so. 157 The plaintiffs argue that many of the perceived obstacles to wilderness designation can be overcome or overlooked. For example, they argue that Burke Branch has no more pines or road systems than other areas in the Shawnee that Congress has already designated as wilderness. They also argue that any bill designating the area as wilderness could have provisions that would allow the Forest Service to conduct restoration activities in the unique natural areas within Burke Branch and allow limited fluorspar mining, as prior bills have allowed with other wilderness areas. (FSEIS App. at C-11.) However, as the FSEIS points out, the prior wilderness designation bills have allowed for limited activities such as prescribed fire and herbicides. Restoration of the unique barrens natural areas within Burke Branch, on the other hand, will require intensive use of heavy equipment. (FSEIS App. at C-11.) Moreover, even assuming that any one of these impediments could be overcome or overlooked, the Forest Service was within its discretion to conclude that the combination of impediments made the area as a whole unsuitable for wilderness. 158 For there reasons, the Court finds that the regional forester's decision was well-reasoned and soundly supported by the environmental analysis. The Court, therefore, rejects the plaintiffs' objections to the Burke Branch decision as stated in Count VII. 159