Native Ecosystems Council v. Stansfield

Three environmental organizations filed a lawsuit asserting that the U.S. Forest Service violated NEPA, the National Forest Management Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act when it approved a fire restoration project in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest that the plaintiffs alleged authorized 30,000 acres per year of logging and burning over the next 15 to 20 years. The complaint alleged that the project was likely to adversely affect nine species listed under the Endangered Species Act, their critical habitat, and two species proposed for listing. The complaint alleged that the environmental assessment (EA) for the project included only a “vague, landscape-level discussion” that failed to provide a “site-specific understanding of on-the-ground conditions” that was critical to the survival of the wildlife species. The complaint focused on the pinyon jay, “one of the fastest declining bird species in the United States,” alleging that the EA and project documents failed to consider the impacts of the proliferation of non-native and invasive species on the pinyon jay or how climate change would impact the species in combination with the project.