OREGON NATURAL RESOUCES v. GOODMAN
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in OREGON NATURAL RESOUCES v. GOODMAN, No. 07-35110, an appeal in a civil action against the United States. The panel consisted of Stephen Reinhardt, Cynthia Holcomb Hall, and Milan D. Smith, Jr., Circuit Judges.
MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judge:
Appellants Oregon Natural Resources Council, the Sierra Club and Headwaters (collectively, ONRC) challenge the United States Forest Service’s (Forest Service) approval of the proposed expansion of the Mount Ashland Ski Area (MASA), located in Oregon’s Siskiyou Mountains within the Rogue River and Klamath National Forests. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Forest Service, finding it had not violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq., or the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), 16 U.S.C. § 1600 et seq., in authorizing the MASA expansion. We hold that the Forest Service failed to properly evaluate the impact of the proposed MASA expansion on the Pacific fisher, in violation of both the NEPA and the NFMA, and that it violated the NFMA by failing to appropriately designate Riparian Reserves and Restricted Watershed terrain, as required by the Rogue River . . .