Public Lands for the People, Inc. v. United States Department of Agriculture
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
697 F.3d 1192 (2012)
After weighing environmental and use factors, the Forest Service (part of the Department of Agriculture, defendant) issued a 2008 decision reclassifying certain previously public roads in Eldorado National Forest as non-public, closed to motor vehicle traffic, which required miners represented by Public Lands for the People (plaintiffs) to obtain permission they hadn't needed before; the trial court upheld the Forest Service's authority and its interpretation of what counts as a public road, and the miners appealed.
Whether a federal agency is granted wide deference in its reasonable interpretation of its own regulations, unless that interpretation is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation.