9th Circuit Requires Preliminary Injunction of Restoration Logging

The Ninth Circuit reversed denial of a preliminary injunction to halt the Mission Brush project in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, in which the Forest Service planned to allow selective logging to restore the forest to historic conditions. The court held that plaintiffs had demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of both their NFMA and NEPA claims. The Forest Service decision relied on unverified assumptions that the logging would improve habitat for sensitive old-growth dependent species used to measure diversity and failed to discuss scientific uncertainty about its impact assessment.  Land_institute.pdf