[JURIST] The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] has reversed [opinion, PDF] a lower court order denying an injunction against a US Forest Service [official website] plan to allow commercial logging in the Plumas National Forest [USFS materials] in California. The Forest Service had argued that commercial logging would help pay for forest maintenance that would reduce the risk of fires, but the court ruled that the Forest Service had failed to explore other alternatives as required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 [text]. The court also held that the potential of irreparable harm to wildlife in the forest was sufficient to warrant an injunction. AP has more.

In December 2007, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down [JURIST report] a Bush administration rule aimed at preventing urban forest fires by exempting logging projects under 1,000 acres from environmental review. In March 2007, the US District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the enforcement [JURIST report] of Forest Service regulations governing the management of National Forests. In August 2006, a federal judge ruled [JURIST report] against a Forest Service plan to allow commercial logging inside Central California’s Giant Sequoia National Monument [USFS materials].