Opinion ID: 793847
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: NEPA Challenge to Analysis of Effects of Logging on California Spotted Owls

Text: 100 Earth Island argues that the USFS has failed to take a hard look at the effects of the Power and Freds Projects on the California spotted owl. The California spotted owl was identified as a species at risk in the 2001 Framework. Species at risk are those with a high level of concern whose ranges are not peripheral to the Sierra Nevada and that occur in old forest ecosystems. As reported in the 2004 Supplement, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) declared in February 2003 that the California spotted owl would not be listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act because there was no definite evidence that the population is decreasing across its range, and various analytical results of the individual study areas are not wholly supportive of conclusions regarding declines in any given study area. 101 However, because changes in the Sierra Nevada Framework could affect the California spotted owl, the FWS has stated that it will continue to monitor the owl. Within the last year, the FWS issued a 90-day finding under the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1533(b)(2)(A), as a prelude to a possible determination that the California spotted owl should be listed under the Act. 90-Day on a Petition to List the California Spotted Owl as Threatened or Endangered, 70 Fed.Reg. 35,607 (June 21, 2005). The FWS stated that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial evidence that listing the species may be warranted. Id. The FWS is currently engaged in a 12-month review of the California spotted owl as required by 16 U.S.C. § 4(b)(3)(B). Id. Among the factors prompting the 12 month review was the 2004 Supplement, as well as new evidence concerning the effects of fires on the owls. Id. at 35,612. 102 Under the 2004 Supplement, PACs for California spotted owls must be maintained regardless of actual occupancy by owls. After a stand-replacing event such as a major fire, habitat conditions within a 1.5-mile radius around the PAC must be evaluated in order to identify opportunities for re-mapping a destroyed or diminished PAC. Only if there is insufficient suitable habitat for designating a PAC within this 1.5-mile radius can a PAC be delisted. 103 Earth Island argues that the FEISs allow for excessive cutting of trees that would otherwise survive in areas used by California spotted owls, do not adequately take into account studies showing the owls' use of already-burned areas, allow the creation of isolated islands of habitat, and fail to retain sufficient numbers of large snags for use by owls. Earth Island relies upon the declaration of Monica Bond, who has a B.A. in Biology from Duke University and an M.S. in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University. She is the lead author of two peer reviewed studies of the California spotted owl published in 2002 and 2004. Bond contends that the Power and Fred Projects will have significant negative effects on the California spotted owl by substantially reducing the amount of potential foraging habitat within the project sites, by a) utilizing inaccurate mortality guidelines (see Declaration of Edwin Royce) which incorrectly categorize some areas withing the Power and Fred's project areas as high-severity burn (and thus unsuitable for owls) when they are in fact live tree areas available to the owl for foraging purposes; b) ignoring significant new scientific information which indicates that spotted owls actually utilize forests burned at even high severities; c) by allowing pockets of forest unburned or burned at low- to moderate severity within a severe burn area to become isolated islands of habitat and reducing their value to the spotted owl; and d) failing to maintain large snags throughout the areas designated to be logged, for recruitment as legacy trees when the forest regenerates in the future. In addition, these projects call for extensive clearcut logging of habitat elements important to spotted owls (large trees and snags) within currently occupied spotted owl Protected Activity Centers (PACs) and Home Range Core Areas (HRCAs). All of these activities will result in the loss of potentially critical foraging grounds that are necessary to maintain the population of California spotted owls in the Eldorado National Forest. 104 The USFS responds with a declaration by Chuck Loffland, a wildlife biologist employed by the USFS. Loffland does not describe his academic background. He states that he has been conducting surveys of the California spotted owl and performing analyses of effects on the owl since 1989. He concedes that it appears from the few studies cited by Ms. Bond that owls may use burned habitat to some degree, but that the scope and duration of that use are not well studied or well understood. He notes that Bond herself states that more scientific study is needed. He states further: 105 Ms. Bond claims that most or all of the PACs will be clearcut.... This is simply untrue. First, there will be no salvage activity within suitable habitat. For the non-core (unsuitable) portion of PACs within the Power project area, salvage will only remove hazard trees and trees that are dead with 100% crown kill in excess of the 4 largest size class snags per acre retained. This will leave behind 4 large snags/acre and all trees that have any green needles and even a remote chance of surviving.... Although Ms. Bond characterizes project activity in the PACs as wholly detrimental to the owl, the Forest Service decided to remove dead and hazard trees from non-core PAC areas in order to provide protection against stand-destroying fire. (emphasis in original). 106 Loffland also disputes some of Bond's characterizations of the logging that will take place within specified PACs. 107 According to the Power FEIS, there were approximately 5,880 acres of suitable owl habitat before the Power Fire; this habitat was reduced to 2,750 acres as a result of the fire. Ten PACs were in the Power Fire area before the fire. One was not affected by the fire and no treatment was proposed; one was burned at high and moderate intensity, and the USFS determined that not enough suitable habitat remained to support a PAC; and the boundaries of the remaining eight were redrawn to encompass the best remaining habitat within a 1.5 mile radius of the center of the area. Within seven of these redrawn PACs, the USFS determined that certain areas were unsuitable for spotted owl habitat (deemed non-core areas) and that salvage logging in these non-core areas could proceed, but leaving standing the four largest snags (dead trees) per acre. No logging is permitted within the core, or suitable habitat, areas of any PAC. 108 An analysis of the direct effects of the Power Project was limited to the area that currently remains suitable for nesting or foraging. Because no logging is allowed in core areas, the Power FEIS notes that any direct effects would be limited to hazard zone areas, meaning roads, power line corridors, and the fire flume. Thus, the potential direct effects were limited to the removal of roadside hazard trees on 295 acres of key habitat within PACs. In addition, the Power Project is estimated to affect 660 acres of the 10,560 total suitable HRCA acres that are within or adjacent to the Power Project area. 109 In discussing the indirect effects, the Power FEIS states that in high- and moderate-intensity burn areas in HRCAs, the largest 5.8 snags per acre will be retained, but that salvage harvesting will proceed according to the tractor-harvesting mortality guidelines. The cumulative effects analysis in the Power FEIS focused on logging activities proposed for 540 acres of private land within the Power Fire area and 873 acres of private land outside the area; on a project to thin trees in order to reduce fuel loads; and on the planned replanting of 700 acres of burned plantation areas. 110 The Power FEIS states that the effect of the Power Project may be to reduce the quality of owl habitat, but that the project would not reduce the overall amount of owl habitat. The Power FEIS predicts that to the extent the Power Project increases future fire resiliency, it may have the effect of increasing the amount of available habitat in the long run. It concludes that there would be no trend resulting in the federal listing of the California spotted owl as an endangered species. 111 In the Freds Fire area, all or portions of three spotted owl PACs were present before the fire. One PAC burned at high and moderate intensity, and the USFS determined that insufficient habitat remained to support this PAC. The boundaries of the remaining two PACs were redrawn to encompass the best 1.5 miles of habit surrounding the center of the area. The Freds FEIS proposed logging in non-core areas of the redrawn PACs. 112 According to the Freds FEIS, approximately 3,255 acres of suitable owl habitat existed on both national forest and private land before the Freds Fire. After the fire, only 285 suitable acres remained in areas of low-intensity burn, while approximately 1,848 acres remained in areas of moderate- and high-intensity burn. In addition, some 332 acres of green trees are scattered across the moderate- and high-intensity burn areas. 113 According to the direct and indirect effects analysis in the Freds FEIS, no logging would take place in core areas within the PACs; no logging would be proposed in areas of low-intensity burn; and hardwoods and green trees would not be harvested in areas of moderate- and high-intensity burn. The FEIS also notes that while the 332 acres of remaining scattered green trees provide some post-fire habitat for the owls, suitability in those 332 acres would likely be reduced over time as more fire-weakened trees die. Dead trees lose foliage and therefore would reduce canopy closure to levels below what is preferred by owls. 114 The USFS argues that it adopted a conservative approach to logging in both FEISs in order to ensure that the California spotted owl is protected. It points to the fact that it assumed the presence of owls in PACs pending the completion of surveys. It also argues that it considered the information concerning the owl's use of post-fire habitat and determined that the findings were too inconclusive to affect its impact analysis. 115 We have elsewhere interpreted the hard look requirement as entailing both a complete discussion of relevant issues as well as meaningful statements regarding the actual impact of proposed projects. In Native Ecosystems Council, we held that where an EIS used a calculation for determining the summer range of elk herd that was inconsistent with a specific requirement contained in the regional forest plan, the USFS had not taken a hard look because it did not provide a full and fair discussion of the potential effects of the project . . . and did not inform decision-makers and the public of the reasonable alternatives which would avoid or minimize adverse impacts [to the elk at issue]. 418 F.3d at 965(internal quotations and alterations omitted). Likewise, in Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center v. Bureau of Land Management, 387 F.3d 989, 994-95 (9th Cir.2004), we held that an environmental assessment (EA) did not take a hard look at the cumulative impacts of a proposed action where the EA had sections devoted to discussing direct, cumulative, and foreseeable actions, but gave no objective or qualified assessment of the combined environmental impacts of the information presented. Most recently, we concluded that where an EIS stated without meaningful explanation that a post-fire salvage project would have a negative impact on black-backed woodpeckers but would not result in a trend toward federal listing, this did not constitute a hard look. Ecology Ctr., Inc. v. Austin, 430 F.3d 1057, 1067 (9th Cir.2005). 116 In Earth Island, Earth Island claimed that the FEIS for the Star Fire Restoration Project did not adequately analyze the cumulative impact of the project's destruction of an HRCA on the California spotted owl. Earth Island, 351 F.3d at 1306-07. While the FEIS in Earth Island had acknowledged that spotted owls exhibit high site fidelity and that a pair of owls had returned to the project area, it never assessed the potential role of the remaining suitable habitat within the former HRCA for a maintained [PAC] despite the acknowledged presence of owls in the area. Id. at 1307. For this reason, we held that the omission amounts to an insufficient consideration of cumulative impact under NEPA. Id. 117 We conclude that the Power and Freds FEISs have not taken the requisite hard look at the effects of the two projects on the California spotted owl. We concluded above that the FEISs did not adequately analyze probable tree mortality. The likely consequence of the apparent overprediction of tree mortality is excessive logging. This likely excessive logging, in turn, is likely to produce adverse effects on the California spotted owl that are not adequately analyzed in the FEISs. 118 Further, it is likely that the projects will substantially reduce potential foraging habitat because the FEISs' designation of non-core areas, where logging will occur, is based upon the USFS's determination that because these areas were heavily burned they are not likely to be suitable owl habitat. According to Bond—both in her declaration and in her published work—the California spotted owl uses burned areas for foraging in the short-term, and these areas may also provide important benefits in the long-term. 119 The FEISs cannot assume that simply because the owl habitat studies are preliminary, the adverse impacts discussed therein will not occur. Rather, the FEISs must respond explicitly and directly to conflicting views in order to satisfy NEPA's procedural requirements. By removing trees that might survive in areas it assumes to be unsuitable for California spotted owl habitat, the FEISs allow logging in what could well be suitable habitat. The FEISs do not explain in any detail how their determinations that habitat was unsuitable were made, and do not investigate or analyze how redrawing the boundaries of the PACs and HRCAs might negatively impact the owls. We therefore conclude that the FEISs do not satisfy the requirement under NEPA that the agency take a hard look and that there be a full and fair discussion allowing informed public participation and informed decision-making. 120