Western Montana Community Partners, Inc. v. Austin ( 2017 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JUN 16 2017
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
WESTERN MONTANA COMMUNITY No. 15-35568
PARTNERS, INC., a Montana non-profit
corporation; SPECIAL USE PERMIT D.C. No. 9:13-cv-00282- DWM
FOR PUBLIC RESORT BENEFITS,
LLC, a Montana limited liability
corporation, MEMORANDUM*
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
DEBORAH AUSTIN, Lolo National
Forest Supervisor; JULIE KING,
Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor;
FAYE KRUEGER, Regional Forester of
Region One of the U.S. Forest Service;
UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE,
an agency of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Montana
Donald W. Molloy, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted June 5, 2017
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
Portland, Oregon
Before: TASHIMA, GOULD, and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges.
Western Montana Community Partners, Inc., and Special Use Permit for
Public Resort Benefits, LLC (together, “SUPPRB”), appeal from the district
court’s grant of summary judgment to Deborah Austin, Julie King, Faye Krueger,
and the United States Forest Service (collectively, the “Forest Service”) on
SUPPRB’s Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) claim. See 5 U.S.C. § 551 et
seq. SUPPRB brought suit after the Forest Service denied SUPPRB’s application
for a special use permit to develop a ski resort within the Lolo and Bitterroot
National Forests. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
1. SUPPRB has exhausted its administrative remedies. It was not
entitled to an administrative appeal because it did not apply for a special use permit
at the invitation of a “prospectus” issued by the Forest Service. See 36 C.F.R. §§
214.2, 214.4(c)(2).
2. We review de novo the district court’s summary judgment ruling on
SUPPRB’s APA claim. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Nat’l Marine Fisheries
Serv., 421 F.3d 872, 877 (9th Cir. 2005). “De novo review of a district court
judgment concerning a decision of an administrative agency means the court views
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the case from the same position as the district court.” Turtle Island Restoration
Network v. Nat’l Marine Fisheries Serv., 340 F.3d 969, 973 (9th Cir. 2003).
The Forest Service denied SUPPRB’s application after concluding that its
proposal was inconsistent with visual quality, recreation, timber, and other land use
standards mandated by the Lolo and Bitterroot Forest Plans. SUPPRB has failed to
show that this conclusion was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or
otherwise not in accordance with law.” See 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A).
a. The Forest Service did not abuse its discretion in concluding
that the proposed resort would not meet the visual quality standards of retention or
partial retention. SUPPRB takes issue with the agency’s conclusion because, in
reaching it, the agency did not conduct a field study, but instead relied on a
photograph supplied by SUPPRB. But the regulations do not require the Forest
Service, in reviewing a permit application at the initial screening stage, to conduct
a study in order to assess a proposal’s visual impacts. See 36 C.F.R.
§ 251.54(e)(1). The Forest Plans state that an activity’s compliance with visual
standards will be determined in-office using “[m]aps of . . . viewpoints [that] are
on file.” Moreover, SUPPRB included a photograph in its proposal for the express
purpose of “demonstrat[ing] how ‘Visual Retention’ standards can easily be met”;
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it cannot complain that the Forest Service used the photograph for its intended
purpose.
b. The Forest Service did not abuse its discretion in concluding
that the proposal includes development in Management Area 5 of the Bitterroot
National Forest and Management Area 11 of the Lolo National Forest. The Forest
Plan maps, as well as SUPPRB’s own map, show that the proposal touches these
areas. Although SUPPRB now claims that only future phases of the proposal,
which it says were optional, touch on these areas, SUPPRB gave no indication in
its application that later phases were optional.1
c. The Forest Service did not abuse its discretion in concluding
that SUPPRB’s proposal was inconsistent with the Lolo Forest Plan because the
proposed resort would indirectly affect the Carlton Ridge Research Natural Area
(“RNA”). SUPPRB argues that its proposal avoided any direct contact with the
RNA. The Forest Service does not disagree. Rather, its decision rested on a
1
In its reply brief, SUPPRB argues that the agency was required to
consider the phases separately, pursuant to its obligation to discern whether the
proposal could “be made consistent” with the Forest Plans. See 36 C.F.R. §
251.54(e)(1)(ii). Because it was not made in the opening brief, the argument is
waived. See Indep. Towers of Wash. v. Washington, 350 F.3d 925, 929 (9th Cir.
2003).
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potential indirect effect due to the fact that the proposed resort would surround the
RNA on all four sides.
d. The Forest Service did not abuse its discretion in concluding
that the proposal contravenes the recreational standards applicable to Management
Area 5 of the Bitterroot Forest Plan. Contrary to SUPPRB’s contention,
Management Area 5 “is not suitable for timber production” under the Bitterroot
Forest Plan. Although SUPPRB is correct that snowmobiling is allowed in
Management Area 5, it does not follow that SUPPRB’s proposed ski resort is
allowed. The Forest Plan authorizes “snowmobiling” as an activity “associated
with roadless areas.” Other such activities are “hiking, hunting, fishing, camping,
[and] motor biking.” The only physical construction permitted to facilitate such
recreation is of “[t]railhead facilities” and other “primitive shelters, corrals, tent
frames, hitchrails, and sanitation facilities.” The Forest Service reasonably
concluded that those activities and improvements are less invasive than the
proposed resort, which would require installation of permanent lodge facilities and
ski lift equipment.
e. SUPPRB contends that the district court erroneously ruled that
a permit to construct a ski resort cannot be approved unless the Forest Plans have
expressly set aside lands for such a development. Even assuming a requirement of
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that nature would be contrary to law, SUPPRB has mischaracterized the district
court’s ruling. The district court assessed each inconsistency identified by the
Forest Service; it did not rely on a conclusion that a Forest Plan must allocate lands
for new development before the Forest Service may approve a development permit.
In any case, we look to the agency’s decision, not the district court’s decision, and
consider only those rationales that the agency itself gave to support its denial. See
SEC v. Chenery Corp., 332 U.S. 194, 196 (1947).
f. Finally, SUPPRB contends that the Forest Service acted
arbitrarily and capriciously in denying its application when the agency had
previously endorsed the construction of a ski resort at Lolo Peak. This argument
fails for at least three reasons. First, it mischaracterizes the agency’s views, which
the record shows were mixed. While the agency initially noted that Lolo Peak
could potentially make for a national-class ski resort, it also identified the
drawbacks of siting a resort there, called for additional study of the area, and
eventually took a neutral position on the subject. Second, the Forest Service’s
denial of SUPPRB’s application did not foreclose the possibility of any ski resort,
but instead rejected SUPPRB’s proposal because the agency found that the
proposal was inconsistent with the Forest Plans. Third, an agency’s change in
position alone is not a reason to reverse the agency. As a result, even if the Forest
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Service had consistently endorsed the concept of building a resort at Lolo Peak, it
would have been free to change its view, as long as its “new policy is permissible
under the statute, . . . there are good reasons for it, and . . . the agency believes it to
be better.” FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 556 U.S. 502, 515 (2009).
AFFIRMED.
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FILED
W. Montana Community Partners v. Austin, Case No. 15-35568
JUN 16 2017
Rawlinson, Circuit Judge, concurring:
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
I concur in the result.