Hapner v. Tidwell

After completing an environmental review required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the United States Forest Service (Forest Service) (defendant) announced its intention to move forward with the Smith Creek Project (the project) in Gallatin National Forest. The project, which was intended to reduce the risk of wildfires while increasing wildlife diversity, would authorize the logging of 810 acres of land and the burning of an additional 300 acres. Environmentalists (plaintiffs) sued the Forest Service to stop the project. Among their many claims, the environmentalists argued that the project violated the Gallatin Forest Plan by failing to maintain adequate elk habitat. In that forest plan, the Forest Service committed to not reducing the elk hiding cover by more than 33 percent over time. Hiding cover was defined in the plan to include vegetation capable of hiding 90 percent of an elk seen at 200 feet or less. The environmentalists pointed out that after completion of the project, the hiding cover would be reduced by more than 33 percent when compared to elk habitat at the time the forest plan was adopted. The Forest Service countered that the project did not violate the forest plan because it did not—by itself—reduce the hiding cover by more than 33 percent. The district court rejected the environmentalists’ challenges, and the environmentalists appealed.