## Facts

- USDA and the U.S. Forest Service issued the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule restricting most road construction and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System, subject to limited exceptions.
- The restrictions applied to roughly one-third of National Forest System lands and were adopted after a multi-year environmental review and public-comment process, including an environmental impact statement.
- The State of Wyoming challenged the Rule, alleging it unlawfully created de facto wilderness in violation of the Wilderness Act and was adopted contrary to NEPA and federal forest planning statutes, including NFMA.
- The federal district court set aside the Rule and entered a nationwide permanent injunction based on Wilderness Act and NEPA violations.
- USDA and the Forest Service appealed to the Tenth Circuit, with related industry appeals consolidated.

## Issues

1. Whether the Roadless Rule violated the Wilderness Act by effectively designating wilderness without congressional action.
2. Whether USDA exceeded its statutory authority or violated NFMA by adopting a nationwide, generally applicable rule affecting management of national forest lands.
3. Whether USDA complied with NEPA in promulgating the Rule, including preparation of an adequate EIS and consideration of reasonable alternatives.

## Decision

- The Tenth Circuit reversed the district court and upheld the Roadless Rule.
- The court held the Rule did not violate the Wilderness Act because it did not designate statutory “wilderness” and imposed management restrictions distinct from the Wilderness Act regime.
- The court held USDA acted within its authority under the Organic Act and MUSYA and that NFMA did not bar a nationwide regulation operating alongside forest plans.
- The court held USDA satisfied NEPA by preparing an EIS, considering a reasonable range of alternatives, and explaining its choice in a manner that was not arbitrary or capricious.
- The case was remanded with instructions to vacate the district court’s injunction; the Supreme Court later denied certiorari.

## Legal Principles

- Federal land-management agencies may impose conservation-based use restrictions under broad statutory authority to regulate national forest occupancy and use, even when restrictions protect “wilderness-like” characteristics, so long as the agency does not purport to designate statutory wilderness reserved to Congress.
- The Wilderness Act’s congressional designation requirement does not, by itself, withdraw the Forest Service’s ordinary management authority to limit roads and timber harvesting in selected areas.
- NFMA permits generally applicable regulations that govern national forest management and operate in a regulatory hierarchy with forest plans, rather than requiring all management constraints to be adopted only through plan-level amendments.
- NEPA is procedural; an agency complies by preparing an adequate EIS, involving the public, and considering a reasonable range of alternatives, with courts applying deferential review to technical and predictive judgments when the agency considered relevant factors and gave a reasoned explanation.

## Conclusion

The Tenth Circuit reinstated the 2001 Roadless Rule, holding that USDA’s nationwide restrictions on road construction and most timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas were authorized by governing forest statutes, did not amount to an unlawful wilderness designation, and were adopted in compliance with NEPA, requiring vacatur of the district court’s nationwide injunction.


Wyoming v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 661 F.3d 1209 (10th Cir. 2011), cert. denied, 568 U.S. 928 (2012)