John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute v. U.S. Forest Service

Three environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s environmental review of logging activity in Plumas National Forest in California. The plaintiffs alleged that although the stated purpose for the logging activity was community protection from wildfires, the U.S. Forest Service failed to consider alternatives that limited logging to areas most proximate to human communities or that used management techniques such as prescribed burning in more remote areas. The plaintiffs also alleged that the U.S. Forest Service violated NEPA by failing to prepare an EIS “despite the substantial scientific questions and expert dispute over the efficacy of mechanical thinning to achieve the project’s stated purpose of wildfire risk reduction for communities and infrastructure.” The plaintiffs also alleged that the Forest Service failed to take a hard look at various issues, including carbon storage and emissions from affected forestlands.