## Facts

- Environmental organizations challenged the U.S. Forest Service’s timber practices in the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas under the 1987 land and resource management plan and accompanying environmental impact statement.
- The Forest Service relied heavily on even-aged silvicultural methods (including clearcutting, seed-tree, and shelterwood harvesting) as a dominant management approach.
- The plan allocated roughly 82% of the national forest land in Texas to even-aged management.
- Plaintiffs sought to halt imminent timber sales authorizing even-aged management and to stop future sales using even-aged methods.
- Defendants moved for summary judgment on the even-aged management claims; plaintiffs sought preliminary injunctive relief (including under 5 U.S.C. § 705).
- Plaintiffs argued the administrative appeal process did not provide timely, effective relief before logging would occur.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs showed a substantial likelihood of success that the Forest Service’s plan-wide use of even-aged management violated NFMA’s substantive limits on even-aged regeneration methods.
2. Whether plaintiffs showed a substantial likelihood of success that NEPA review failed to adequately analyze and disclose the scope and cumulative environmental effects of extensive reliance on even-aged management.
3. Whether imminent timber sales would cause irreparable harm justifying a preliminary injunction, considering the balance of harms and the public interest.

## Decision

- The court granted a preliminary injunction barring the Forest Service’s even-aged management program in the Texas national forests pending final resolution of the NFMA and NEPA claims.
- The court found plaintiffs demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on the merits under both NFMA and NEPA.
- The court found irreparable harm because imminent even-aged harvesting would cause lasting changes to habitat and forest structure before judicial review could be completed.
- The court held the balance of harms favored injunctive relief because economic and administrative impacts of delay did not outweigh potentially permanent environmental injury.
- The court determined the public interest supported ensuring agency compliance with NFMA and NEPA.
- The court concluded provisional relief was appropriate despite typical exhaustion concerns because the administrative process did not offer effective relief in time to prevent the alleged harm.

## Legal Principles

- A preliminary injunction may issue when the movant shows likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable injury absent relief, that the balance of harms favors relief, and that relief serves the public interest.
- NFMA imposes enforceable substantive constraints on timber harvesting methods; agency discretion over even-aged methods is bounded by statutory and regulatory limits.
- Courts may reject broad agency readings of NFMA where statutory text and structure indicate Congress intended meaningful restrictions on clearcutting and related even-aged methods.
- NEPA requires environmental analysis commensurate with the scale of the agency action; when a forest plan establishes a broad program of timber harvesting, analysis must address the scope and cumulative effects rather than rely on generic or fragmented review.
- Where imminent environmental injury would occur before meaningful administrative or judicial review, injunctive relief may be warranted to preserve the status quo.

## Conclusion

The district court preliminarily enjoined even-aged timber harvesting authorized under the Texas forest plan, holding that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that the Forest Service exceeded NFMA limits on even-aged methods and failed to satisfy NEPA’s disclosure and cumulative-impact analysis duties, and that imminent logging posed irreparable environmental harm outweighing the government’s and timber interests’ delay-related costs.


Sierra Club v. Espy, 822 F. Supp. 356 (E.D. Tex. 1993)