FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2009

Contact:
Trent Orr, Earthjustice (510) 550-6700 or Tim Preso, Earthjustice (406)
586-9699
James Navarro, Defenders of Wildlife (202) 772-0247
Kristina Johnson, Sierra Club (415) 977-5619
Mike Anderson, The Wilderness Society (206) 624-6430

 Bush-Era Rules Abandoning Wildlife Protections Rejected by Federal Court,
                                   Again
  Conservation groups hail victory for wildlife and public participation

Oakland, CA – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California on Tuesday issued a decision overturning the Bush
administration's last attempt to weaken rules governing management of
America’s 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Bush rules,
issued April 21, 2008, repealed key protections for national forests
mandated under the National Forest Management Act (NFMA).

The case was filed by a coalition of conservation groups represented by
Earthjustice.

Read the decision here:
http://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/nfma-order-09-06-30.pdf

The 2008 rule mirrored another issued by the Bush administration in 2005,
which was also thrown out by a federal court. Like the 2005 rule, the 2008
rule eliminated mandatory protections in place since the Reagan
administration that require the national forests to be managed to guarantee
viable populations of all wildlife species, to preserve clean, healthy
streams and lakes, and to protect diverse natural forests. The Bush rules
also sought to reduce public participation in decisions about the
management of our public forests.

In ruling on plaintiffs’ claims under the Endangered Species Act and the
National Environmental Policy Act, the court’s opinion stated:

“[C]ourts have rejected USDA’s argument that the programmatic nature of the
plan development rule necessarily means that it will have no effect on the
environment or protected species.  The USDA has simply copied those
rejected legal arguments in a new document and called it a ‘Biological
Assessment.’ This is not sufficient to satisfy the [Endangered Species
Act]’s requirements....Because the EIS does not evaluate the environmental
impacts of the 2008 Rule, it does not comply with [the National
Environmental Policy Act]’s requirements.”

Earlier versions of the forest planning rules contained enforceable
standards that protected wildlife, water, and the forests. The earlier
rules also provided opportunities for public involvement and required
analysis of environmental impacts of forest plans on the national forests,
impacts that result from plan decisions regarding logging levels and other
extractive uses of forest resources.

“America’s diverse wildlife that inhabits our national forests will be
safer because of this ruling, which will require forest managers to look
out for the welfare of every species,” said Earthjustice attorney Trent
Orr. “The Bush administration tried twice to eliminate vital protections
for all wildlife living in the national forests. Fortunately, America’s
strong environmental laws, and groups willing to fight to enforce them,
kept them from succeeding both times.”

The court found that the Forest Service violated the National Environment
Policy Act by approving the new regulations based on a faulty environmental
impact statement that failed to analyze adequately the environmental
impacts of the new regulations and violated the Endangered Species Act by
failing to examine the effects of eliminating wildlife protection standards
on protected species.

The new decision represents the second time Bush NFMA rules were rejected
by the courts.

“Our national forests and grasslands belong to all Americans and should be
managed that way, not just for the benefit of narrow special interests,”
said Peter Nelson, director for federal lands of Defenders of Wildlife.
“The Bush administration left a legacy of little to no protection for fish,
plants and wildlife and the important values they provide. We’ve got a lot
work to do to get our forests back on track. The court’s decision
overturning the Bush regulations clears the way for us to get started.”

“Today’s decision offers an opportunity to restore traditional safeguards
to America's forests and wildlife,” said Sierra Club executive director
Carl Pope. “The Bush administration attempted a wholesale gutting of the
rules that have protected America’s national forest system for years.
Weakening these regulations would have opened our last wild forests to
unchecked logging and industrial development, with no regard for the
impacts on wildlife, the environment, or recreational users. We’re pleased
that the court has recognized the importance of protecting our forests for
future generations.”

Earthjustice represented Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, The Wilderness
Society, and Vermont Natural Resources Counsel.

A separate lawsuit known as Citizens for Better Forestry v. U.S. Department
of Agriculture challenged the same rule, and was consolidated with this
litigation.

BACKGROUND:

Congress passed the National Forest Management Act in 1976 to reform the
Forest Service and to ensure that the agency give due consideration to
non-timber resources, such as recreation, wildlife, and water. The NFMA
regulations targeted by the Bush administration include the critical legal
requirement that national forests be managed to maintain viable wildlife
populations. This rule supports populations of popular game species such as
elk, moose, and black bear, and helps keep sensitive and rare species off
the endangered species list by identifying and correcting wildlife
population declines before species become imperiled.

The Reagan administration adopted this wildlife viability protection in
response to declines in the population and range of many species caused by
the routine approval of logging and other development projects that did not
take the need to conserve wildlife into account. The Bush administration's
attempt to repeal the NFMA wildlife protections threatened a future in
which rare species would once again dwindle and disappear from the national
forests.

The National Forest Management Act also requires the Forest Service to
allow citizens to participate fully in forest management decisions.

Kristina Johnson
Deputy Press Secretary
Sierra Club
Office: (415) 977-5619
Cell: (541) 914-9744
85 Second Street - 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105-3459
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