Wilderness Society v. United States Forest Service

Following the 2005 Travel Management Rule, the Forest Service (defendant) revised the Sawtooth National Forest's travel plan, designating 94 miles of routes open to off-road vehicles and closing 650 miles, and issued an environmental assessment and a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) concluding no full environmental impact statement was required. The Wilderness Society (plaintiff) sued, arguing the assessment failed to address the impacts of the newly designated and closed routes as NEPA required, that the agency failed to include NFMA-required water-quality mitigation measures, and that it violated executive orders requiring consideration of off-road-vehicle compatibility with recreational uses.

Whether a federal agency violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act by failing to actually analyze a project's environmental impacts before concluding no significant impact.