## Facts

- Defendants held unpatented placer mining claims within the St. Joe National Forest in Idaho.
- The Secretary of Agriculture issued Forest Service regulations (then codified at 36 C.F.R. pt. 252) governing mining-related surface activities on national forest lands.
- The regulations required an approved plan of operations for mining likely to significantly disturb surface resources and permitted the Forest Service to require a reclamation bond.
- The Forest Service notified defendants they had to submit a final plan of operations and post a bond before continuing mining activities that could disturb surface resources.
- Defendants communicated with the Forest Service but did not file an approved plan or submit the required bond.
- The United States sued to enjoin defendants from mining activities that could disturb surface resources until they complied; Idaho intervened to protect state interests.
- The district court granted summary judgment for the United States and enjoined mining activities that could disturb surface resources unless defendants filed an approved plan and posted a $2,000 bond.

## Issues

1. Whether 16 U.S.C. §§ 478 and 551 (Organic Administration Act) authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to require miners on national forest lands to submit a plan of operations and post a bond to protect surface resources.
2. Whether such regulation of surface activities unlawfully conflicted with rights granted under the federal mining laws for unpatented mining claims.
3. Whether summary judgment and an injunction were proper where defendants had not complied with the plan-and-bond requirements.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment and injunction.
- Sections 478 and 551 authorized the Forest Service regulations governing mining-related surface use on national forest lands, including plan-of-operations and bonding requirements.
- The mining laws did not bar regulation of the manner of surface use to protect the government’s superior property interests in national forest lands.
- Injunctive relief properly required compliance with valid regulations as a condition to conducting surface-disturbing mining activities.

## Legal Principles

- Under 16 U.S.C. § 551, the Secretary of Agriculture may issue rules regulating occupancy and use of national forest reservations to preserve forest resources from destruction, including regulation of mining-related surface activities.
- Holders of unpatented mining claims possess rights to explore and develop minerals, but those rights are subject to reasonable federal regulation of surface use on national forest lands.
- Requiring a plan of operations for activities likely to disturb surface resources and requiring bonding to secure reclamation are permissible means to protect national forest surface resources.
- Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine dispute that regulated activities occurred on national forest land and the operators failed to comply with valid plan and bond requirements; an injunction may enforce compliance without extinguishing mining claims.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit held that the Organic Administration Act authorizes Forest Service regulation of mining-related surface disturbance in national forests, including mandatory plans of operations and bonding, and affirmed an injunction barring surface-disturbing mining until the miners complied.


United States v. Weiss, 642 F.2d 296 (9th Cir. 1981)