North Cascades Conservation Council v. U.S. Forest Service

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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed in part a district court’s decision finding that the U.S. Forest Service complied with NEPA in connection with its approval of the Twisp Restoration Project in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, a project that was intended to promote the forest’s resilience to wildfire and climate change, among other purposes. The Ninth Circuit rejected the arguments that the public comment process was insufficient and that the Forest Service relied on an “overly narrow” statement of purpose and need that relied on “circular logic” of using fire suppression and timber harvest to address problems created by previous fire suppression and timber harvest. The Ninth Circuit also found that the Forest Service “sufficiently analyzed viable alternatives” and that the plaintiff did not show that a “natural succession alternative” was feasible. Although the Ninth Circuit rejected a challenge to the Forest Service’s methodology for assessing the project’s impacts, it found that the Forest Service had a duty to analyze the cumulative effects of a restoration project that shared a “common origin” with the Twisp Restoration Project but which covered areas removed from the Twisp project area after a wildfire. The court remanded for a determination of whether an environmental impact statement was necessary based on a revised cumulative effects analysis.