Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Paul Bradford, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 8641

The Forest Service approved the Pilgrim Creek Timber Sale Project (Pilgrim Project) in the Kootenai National Forest to conduct timber harvest and related activities, requiring construction of ~4.7 miles of new roads for project implementation.
The Project area lies in the Clark Fork "Bears Outside of Recovery Zones" (BORZ) polygon for grizzly bears; the 2011 Access Amendments to the Kootenai Forest Plan (with an associated FWS Biological Opinion) prohibit any net permanent increase in total linear road miles in each BORZ above a BORZ-specific baseline.
The FWS Biological Opinion tied incidental-take limits to staying below the BORZ road-mile baselines (256.1 miles for Clark Fork); Standard II(B) of the Access Amendments implements that restriction.
The Forest Service’s 2013 Record of Decision (ROD) approved construction of 4.7 miles of new road but initially described post-project control as gates/closure devices allowing future motorized access, which the district court found noncompliant and enjoined.
In 2014 the Forest Service issued a Clarification/Amendment to the ROD committing to close the new roads using berms/rocks or similar devices that make them impassable to motorized vehicles, and the district court lifted the injunction.
On appeal, the central question was whether roads closed by berms/barriers (and thus impassable to motorized use) nonetheless count toward the BORZ "linear miles of total roads" metric in Standard II(B).

Issue	Alliance's Argument	Forest Service's Argument	Held
Whether roads closed by berms/barriers count toward "linear miles of total roads" in Standard II(B)	The 4.7 miles will be a net permanent increase in total road miles because closed roads still count toward the metric	Roads closed with berms/rocks that effectively prevent motorized access are temporary increases and do not count toward "total roads" under Standard II(B)	The court upheld the Forest Service: berm/barrier-closed roads that effectively prevent motorized access do not count toward the BORZ total-mile baseline

Native Ecosystems Council v. Weldon, 697 F.3d 1043 (9th Cir. 2012) (NFMA requires site-specific actions to be consistent with the governing Forest Plan)
Ecology Center v. Castaneda, 574 F.3d 652 (9th Cir. 2009) (defer to agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous forest-plan requirement)
Lands Council v. Powell, 395 F.3d 1019 (9th Cir. 2005) (standard of review for summary judgment in NFMA/NEPA suits)
Great Old Broads for Wilderness v. Kimbell, 709 F.3d 836 (9th Cir. 2013) (review of agency compliance with statutes under the Administrative Procedure Act)
San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Auth. v. Jewell, 747 F.3d 581 (9th Cir. 2014) (APA standard for reviewing agency actions)
Ariz. Cattle Growers’ Ass’n v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife, 273 F.3d 1229 (9th Cir. 2001) (requirements for issuance of incidental-take statements under Section 7 consultation)