Administrative and Judicial Review of NEPA Decisions: Risk Factors and Risk Minimizing Strategies for the Forest Service. Literature Review
| Authors: | Rachel Bixler, Autumn Ellison, Cassandra Moseley, Andrew Bixler, David N. Seesholtz |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Type: | Miscellaneous |
| Station: | Pacific Northwest Research Station |
| Source: | Ecosystem Workforce Program Working Paper - University of Oregon. |
Abstract
There is a long history of controversy surrounding Forest Service decisions; the agency is sued for NEPA violations more often than any other federal agency. Consequently, the Forest Service has spent a significant amount of time and resources addressing the requirements of the NEPA process, trying to identify and reduce risk factors associated with administrative and judicial challenges to NEPA decisions.This synthesis and annotated bibliography seeks to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence NEPA challenge risks and successes in order to inform and guide resource managers within the Forest Service and other land management agencies, collaborators, practitioners, and contractors as they participate in the NEPA process. This working paper gathers existing scholarly literature on factors that influence NEPA challenge risks and successes, focusing primarily on the Forest Service. It provides an overview of the historical trends characterizing administrative and judicial challenges to NEPA decisions; summarize factors that support and/or detract from success in the NEPA process; and collect and synthesize the literature to date.