Opinion ID: 1359302
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Use of Best Management Practices

Text: WildWest makes several allegations related to the Forest Service's management of watersheds and aquatic habitat in the KNF. [3] Though not listed in the Issues on Appeal, WildWest's Opening Brief complains at length of the Forest Service's use of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to protect fisheries. It claims BMPs have clearly failed to adequately protect and maintain riparian areas in acceptable condition in watersheds impacted by all nine of the challenged projects. We understand WildWest's argument to be that because BMPs have proved inadequate to protect watersheds thus far, it is arbitrary and capricious to use BMPs to evaluate and approve the new site-specific projects. We have not specifically addressed whether use of BMPs is a reasonable management strategy. Rather, we review BMPs according to the same standard by which we review all agency choices with respect to models, methodologies, and weighing scientific evidence: their choices must be supported by reasoned analysis. For instance, we noted in Environmental Protection Information Center v. United States Forest Service, 451 F.3d 1005 (9th Cir.2006), that references to detailed BMPs supported the conclusion the Forest Service had taken the requisite hard look at a project's environmental consequences. Id. at 1015-16; see also Res. Ltd., Inc. v. Robertson, 35 F.3d 1300, 1306 (9th Cir.1993) (noting use of BMPs to ensure maintenance of water quality in action challenging general planning strategies). Additionally, we reviewed the substance of BMPs in Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project v. Blackwood, 161 F.3d 1208 (9th Cir.1998). There, we found that disclosure of mitigation measures was inadequate because the Forest Service relied on BMPs developed for significantly different circumstances from those existing in the disputed project areas. Id. at 1214. Here, the Forest Service reasonably used and relied on BMPs. The record reveals the BMPs used in the KNF are carefully considered and tailored to the projects for which they are used. For instance, the Pipestone EIS, which contains an extensive appendix of BMPs to be applied, recommends specific practices and the results to be obtained by those practices. Unlike in Blue Mountains, the BMPs here were developed for the precise circumstances at hand. So long as BMPs are supported by reasonable scientific assumptions, reasonably appropriate for the circumstances at hand, the Forest Service is not acting in an arbitrary and capricious fashion in relying on them. Moreover, the Forest Service points to specific evidence indicating implementation of BMPs has been quite successful in improving some watersheds. WildWest has not proven that the poor conditions of which they complain are a direct result of the BMPs used in the site-specific project analyses. Nor have they proven the poor conditions can be attributed to BMPs generally, as opposed to historical practices, other management practices, or assumptions. In light of this evidence, the Forest Service did not act in an arbitrary and capricious fashion in relying on BMPs in evaluating and approving the challenged projects.