New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance v. United States Forest Service

645 F. App'x 795
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedApril 27, 2016
Docket14-2135
StatusUnpublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 645 F. App'x 795 (New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance v. United States Forest Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance v. United States Forest Service, 645 F. App'x 795 (10th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

JEROME A. HOLMES, Circuit Judge.

Until 2012, the Santa Fe National Forest was generally open to motorized use. However, recognizing the detrimental impact of motor vehicles on national parks and forests, the United States Forest Service (“Forest Service”) adopted a nationwide rule requiring that only specific roads and trails on national forest land be designated for motorized use in accordance with various environmental and recreational criteria. The Forest Service then began the designation process for the Santa Fe National Forest, and, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321-47, it published an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) detailing the environmental effects of various alternative route systems it was considering. Ultimately, the Forest Service selected an alternative that significantly reduced the routes available for motorized use.

The New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance (“NMOHVA”) petitioned for review of the agency’s decision, alleging that the EIS failed to comply with NEPA in various ways. The district court upheld the agency’s action, finding that it was not arbitrary or capricious. NMOHVA now appeals. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we conclude that NMOH-VA failed to establish standing. Consequently, we dismiss this appeal and remand the case to the district court with instructions to vacate its judgment and dismiss the case without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

I

A

The Santa Fe National Forest, located in northern . New Mexico, encompasses over 1.5 million acres of land. Prior to 2012, fifty-three percent of the forest’s total area remained presumptively open for motorized use. This meant that people could “drive where they like[d] as long as no sign or closure order postfed] [the route] closed.” Aplt’s App. at 90 (Final Envtl. Impact Statement, prepared June 2012). Under this “open-use” regime, many visitors created their own routes on the forest “by driving repeatedly in the same tracks.” Id. at 162. Additionally, some roads maintained by the Forest Service, but officially closed to motorized use, were nonetheless being driven on.

In 2005, the Forest Service promulgated a nationwide Travel Management Rule (“TMR”) to address the growing impact of unmanaged motor vehicle use on forest land. See Travel Management; Designated Routes and Areas for Motor Vehicle Use, 70 Fed.Reg. 68,264 (Nov. 9, 2005) (codified at 36 C.F.R. §§ 212.50-212.57). The TMR requires the designation of specific routes for motorized use, and prohibits driving on roads and trails not listed on maps published by the agency. See 36 C.F.R. § 261.13. In choosing which routes remain open, the Forest Service must consider, inter alia, thé “effects on ... natural and cultural resources, public safety, provision of recreational opportunities, access needs, [and] conflicts among uses.”

*798 Id. § 212.55(a). More specifically, the agency is directed to:

consider effects on the following,' with the objective of minimizing:
(1) Damage to soil, watershed, vegetation, and other forest resources;
(2) Harassment of wildlife and significant disruption of wildlife habitats;
(3) Conflicts between motor vehicle use and existing or proposed recreational uses of National Forest System lands or neighboring Federal lands; and
(4) Conflicts among different classes of motor vehicle uses of National Forest System lands or neighboring Federal lands...,

Id. § 212.55(b).

B

In accordance with the nationwide TMR, the Forest Service began the process of developing a travel plan for the Santa Fe National Forest in 2006. As part of this project, under NEPA, the agency was required to issue an EIS providing “a detailed statement” of “the environmental impact of the proposed action” and “alternatives to the proposed action.” 42 U.S.C. § 4332(C); see id. (requiring an EIS for “major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment”); see also 36 C.F.R. § 212.52(a) (requiring that opportunities for public comment on proposed designations be given “consistent with agency procedures under the National Environmental Policy Act”). The EIS would compare the potential courses of action being considered by the Forest Service against “the alternative of no action,” 40- C.F.R. § 1502.14(d), which would reflect “‘no change’ from [the] current management direction or level of management intensity,” Forty Most Asked Questions Concerning CEQ’s National Environmental Policy Act Regulations, 46 Fed.Reg. 18,026, 18,-027 (Mar. 23, 1981) (codified at 40 C.F.R. §§ 1500-08); 1 see also 40 C.F.R. § 1502.14 (stating that the agency “should present the environmental impacts of the proposal and the alternatives in comparative form, thus sharply defining the issues and providing a clear basis for choice”).

To comply with its NEPA obligations, the Forest Service published a final EIS for the Santa Fe National Forest designation process in June 2012. The agency defined the purpose of the project as (1) compliance with the TMR, and (2) a reduction in the “detrimental effects to natural and cultural resources from unmanaged motorized use and the existence of roads and motorized trails.” Aplt’s App. at 83. In constructing the “no-action alternative,” the agency found that its database of available routes in the forest was inadequate because, under the open-use regime, it had not kept a detailed record of roads and trails. For example, while it attempted to conduct an inventory using aerial photographs in 1992, this process proved over-inclusive: “fence lines and other features that appeared to be roads” were counted as roads, and no follow-up verification was conducted. Aplee.’s Suppl. App. at 36 (Travel Analysis Process Report, prepared June 2008). At one point, the Service estimated that “between 10 percent and 20 percent of the roads in [its] database [did] not exist.” Id. at 39. Further, the “unauthorized” 2 routes that visitors to the forest *799 had created were “not tallied in the forest’s database,” and the Service did not “have an inventory of all the unauthorized roads in the forest.” Aplt.’s App. at 162,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
645 F. App'x 795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-mexico-off-highway-vehicle-alliance-v-united-states-forest-service-ca10-2016.