Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project v. Blackwood
161 F.3d 1208 (9th Cir.1998), cert. denied, 119 S. Ct. 2337 (1999
In August 1996, wildfires raged through the Umatilla National Forest in northeast Oregon. The largest of these fires (and the largest recorded fire in Umatilla National Forest history), the Big Tower Fire, burned over fifty-one thousand acres of forestland surrounding... {Continue reading}

Bugenig v. Hoopa Valley Tribe
229 F.3d 1210 (9th Cir. 2000)
After exhausting all remedies within the tribal court system, Roberta Bugenig, a non-Indian living on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation (the "Reservation") in northern California, filed suit in federal court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the Hoopa Valley Tribe's... {Continue reading}

Earth Island Institute v. United States Forest Service
351 F.3d 1291 (9th Cir. 2003)
Earth Island Institute (EII), an environmental group, appealed the denial of a preliminary injunction to forestall implementation of a post-fire restoration project by the United States Forest Service (USFS) on the grounds that the timber sales involved in the project... {Continue reading}

Ecology Center v. Castaneda
426 F.3d 1144 (9th Cir. 2005)
The Ecology Center and the Lands Council (Ecology Center) contended that section 407 of the Flathead and Kootenai National Forest Rehabilitation Act[1] violated the separation of powers doctrine. Ecology Center also asserted that the district court erred in denying its motion... {Continue reading}

Ecology Center, Inc. v. Austin
430 F.3d 1057 (9th Cir. 2005)
Environmental organization Ecology Center, Inc. (Ecology Center) filed suit against Deborah Austin, Forest Supervisor for the Lolo National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service, and other government entities (Forest Service) over the Forest Service's Lolo National Forest Post Burn Project (Lolo... {Continue reading}

Ecology Center, Inc. v. United States Forest Service
192 F.3d 922 (9th Cir. 1999)
Ecology Center, Inc. brought suit to compel the United States Forest Service to comply fully with the monitoring duties established by the National Forest Management Act (NFMA),[1] for the Kootenai National Forest. The Kootenai National Forest Plan (KNFP) mandates a... {Continue reading}

Forest Conservation Council v. United States Forest Service
66 F.3d 1489 (9th Cir. 1995)
Environmental organizations sued the U.S. Forest Service for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) violations, alleging a failure to conduct a region-wide and forest-wide environmental impact statement (EIS); and for National Forest Management Act (NFMA) violations, alleging a failure to... {Continue reading}

Forest Guardians v. Dombeck
131 F.3d 1309 (9th Cir. 1997)
Environmental interest groups sued Dombeck, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief for alleged violations by the Forest Service (FS) of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA).[1] The plaintiffs argued that the... {Continue reading}

Headwaters, Inc. v. United States Forest Service
399 F.3d 1047 (9th Cir. 2005)
Headwaters, Inc. and the Forest Conservation Council (collectively Headwaters) appealed a district court sua sponte dismissal, on res judicata grounds, of their claim against the United States Forest Service (USFS) for violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),[1] the... {Continue reading}

Idaho Conservation League v. Thomas
91 F.3d 1345 (9th Cir. 1996)
The Idaho Conservation League (ICL) and the Wilderness Society brought this action against Jack Ward Thomas, Chief of the United States Forest Service, seeking an injunction preventing the Thunderbolt timber salvage sale, located in the South Fork Salmon River (SFSR)... {Continue reading}

Idaho Sporting Congress, Inc. v. United States Forest Serv.
92 F.3d 922 (9th Cir. 1996)
Seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, the Idaho Sporting Congress (ISC) filed an action challenging three forest recovery projects and seven associated salvage timber sales. ICS charged the United States Forest Service (Forest Service) with violations of the Recissions Act of... {Continue reading}

Inland Empire Pub. Lands Council v. Glickman
88 F.3d 697 (9th Cir. 1996)
In August 1994, fires in the KootenaiNational Forest in Montana burned over 55,000 acres of forest. Under section 2001(a)(3) of the Salvage Timber Act,[1] the Forest Service planned to conduct sales of about 36 million board feet of "salvage" timber.... {Continue reading}

Native Ecosystems Council v. U. S. Forest Service
418 F.3d 953 (9th Cir. 2005)
Native Ecosystems Council and The Ecology Center (NEC) appealed a district court's summary judgment that the United States Forest Service (USFS) approval of the North Elkhorns Vegetation Treatment Project (Elkhorn Project or Project) was not arbitrary and capricious, in view... {Continue reading}

Natural Resources Defense Council v. U. S. Forest Service
421 F.3d 797 (9th Cir. 2005)
Natural Resources Defense Council, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, The Wilderness Society, and Center for Biological Diversity (NRDC) appealed a district court's dismissal of NRDC's suit against the United States Forest Service, United States Department of... {Continue reading}

Rainsong Co. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Comm'n
106 F.3d 269 (9th Cir. 1997)
Rainsong, a private hydropower developer, applied for a license to build a small hydroelectric power plant on Lena Creek in the Olympic National Forest in Washington. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied the application based on its determination that... {Continue reading}

State of Alaska v. Babbitt
72 F.3d 698 (9th Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 116 S. Ct. 1672 (1996)
This case required the Ninth Circuit to decide what waters are considered public lands within the meaning of section 102 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title="">[1] The ANILCA requires subsistence fishing and hunting... {Continue reading}

United States v. Adams
388 F.3d 708 (9th Cir. 2004)
Barry Adams appealed his misdemeanor conviction for using National Forest System land without obtaining the special-use authorization required for groups of seventy-five or more people under Forest Service regulations.[1] Adams was a member of the Rainbow Family, a group that... {Continue reading}

United States v. Gardner
107 F.3d 1314 (9th Cir. 1997)
In 1988 the Forest Service issued Clifford and Bertha Gardner a ten-year permit allowing the Gardners to graze their cattle on portions of the Humboldt National Forest. In 1992 a fire burned over 2000 acres of land in the national... {Continue reading}

United States v. Griefen
200 F.3d 1256 (9th Cir. 2000)
During the summer of 1996, environmental activists vandalized and occupied the terminus of a Forest Service road in the Nez Perce National Forest of Idaho.[1] The activists dug trenches to make water flow across the road, removed drainage culverts, and... {Continue reading}

United States v. Griefen
200 F.3d 1256 (9th Cir. 2000)
During the summer of 1996, environmental activists vandalized and occupied the terminus of a Forest Service road in the Nez Perce National Forest of Idaho.[1] The activists dug trenches to make water flow across the road, removed drainage culverts, and... {Continue reading}

United States v. Ryberg
43 F.3d 1332(9th Cir. 1995)
Two EarthFirst! members brought suit challenging their criminal convictions for interfering with the official duties of two U.S. Forest Service employees.[1] The defendants were encamped with other EarthFirst! members when the two Forest Officers arrived to relay an emergency message... {Continue reading}

Wilderness Society v. Thomas
188 F.3d 1130 (9th Cir. 1999)
Plaintiff environmental groups sued the United States Forest Service (Forest Service) over its Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) and livestock grazing on the Prescott National Forest in Arizona. The groups claimed that 1) the National Forest Management Act... {Continue reading}