Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. Thompson
United States District Court for the District of Utah
811 F. Supp. 635 (1993)
- Written by Kyli Cotten, JD
Facts
The Dixie and Fishlake Forests are two national forests in Utah subject to multiple state and federal laws. Under federal law, the Animal Damage Control Act (ADCA) authorizes programs for the destruction of animals injurious to agriculture and livestock on federal lands. Moreover, the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) authorizes the Forest Service to manage federally protected forests and to assess the environmental impact of programs instituted under the ADCA. To establish a program under the ADCA, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that Forest Service employees analyze the environmental impact of the proposed program. Whereas Utah state law authorizes ranchers with livestock on national forest land to protect their herds from predators. Further, state law designates coyotes as nonprotected predatory animals subject to predator-control regulation. Forest Service supervisors for the Dixie and Fishland Forests, Hugh Thompson and Tobias Martinez (defendants), prepared environmental assessments (EAs) per NEPA regarding means of controlling coyotes as livestock predators. The EAs listed various nonlethal means to prevent coyotes from harming livestock and allowed for lethal measures if nonlethal measures proved ineffective. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and other public-interest groups (plaintiffs) filed suit. In the complaint, the plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the coyote control methods outlined in the EAs from being implemented.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Anderson, J.)
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