Wilderness Workshop v. U.S. Department of Agriculture

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

WILDERNESS WORKSHOP,

Plaintiff, Civil Action No. 21-2108 (JMC) v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, et al.,

Defendants.

ORDER

For the reasons stated in the accompanying Memorandum Opinion, the Court ORDERS

the following:

Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF 19, is GRANTED IN PART and

DENIED IN PART. The Court finds that Defendants properly withheld all the materials they

withheld pursuant to Exemptions 5 and 6, except for those that were withheld exclusively pursuant

to the deliberative process privilege. Next, the Court further finds that Defendants disclosed the

records in an appropriate format. Finally, the Court finds that the Forest Service has not established

that it conducted an adequate search for responsive records.

The Court ORDERS Defendants to either disclose to Wilderness Workshop all records

withheld under the deliberative process privilege or to provide revised declarations and Vaughn

indices to better explain why the relevant communications were deliberative, and what specific

harm would result from their release. The Court further ORDERS the Forest Service to provide

Plaintiffs with a supplemental declaration describing the process through which it selected the

custodians whose records were searched, as well as information about the identities and/or roles

of those custodians. Finally, the Court ORDERS the parties to jointly file, within thirty days of

1 this decision: (1) a status report that sets forth a list of the records that remain in dispute; and (2) a

proposed schedule for further proceedings, including deadlines for the submission of any renewed

dispositive motions, supplementary Vaughn indices, or supplementary declarations.

Plaintiffs’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF 22, is DENIED.

SO ORDERED.

Dated: September 1, 2023

Jia M. Cobb U.S. District Court Judge