UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
AMERICAN FOREST RESOURCE
COUNCIL, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
BRIAN STEED, et al.,
Defendants.
ASSOCIATION OF O & C COUNTIES,
Plaintiff,
v.
BRIAN STEED, et al.,
Defendants.
ASSOCIATION OF O&C COUNTIES,
Plaintiff,
v.
DONALD J. TRUMP, et al.,
Defendants,
Civil Case No. 16-1599 (RJL)
Civil Case No. 16-1602 (RJL)
Civil Case No. 17-280 (RJL)
soDA MoUNTAIN WILDERNESS
CoUNClL, ex al.,
\./\_/V\/
Defendant-Intervenors.
AMERICAN FOREST RES()URCE
COUNCIL,
Plaintiff,
v. Civil Case No. 17-441 (RJL)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al.,
Defendants,
soDA MoUNTAIN WILDERNESS
CoUNCIL, er al.,
\./\/\_/\_/\/\./\/\/\_/\_/VV\JVV
Defendant-Intervenors.
54"
MEMoRANDUM oPINIoN
(March 2, 2019)
[Dkt. ## 29, 30, 4l (in Case No. 16-1599); l7, 18 (in Case No. l6-1602); 41, 44, 46 (in
Case No. l7-280); 4l, 44, 46 (in'Case No. l7-44l)]
Each of the four above-captioned civil actions involve a challenge to the
management by the United States of America (the “Governrnent” or the “United States”)
of certain land subject to the Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road
Grant Lands Act of 1937 (“O&C Act”), 43 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., a statute that regulates
timber harvest on certain federal land in western Oregon (“O&C land”). In 2016, the
Bureau of Land l\/lanagement (“BLM”) issued two Resource l\/lanagement Plans (“the 2016
Rl\/[Ps”) that divided O&C land into six categories The extent to which timber harvest is
permitted on G&C land under the 2016 RMPs depends on the category to which a given
parcel of land is assigned On January 12, 2017, President Obama, shortly before he left
office, issued a proclamation (“Proclamation 9564”) that enlarged the Cascade-Siskiyou
National Monument in southern Oregon. See Proclarnation 9564, 82 Fed. Reg. 6145 (Jan.
18, 2017). Nearly 40,000 acres of the newly added land is O&C land, and commercial
timber harvest, as a result of the monument designation, is effectively no longer possible
on this land that falls squarely within the monument’s boundaries See Proclamation 7318,
65 Fed. Reg. 37,249, 37,250 (June 13, 2000).
Plaintiffs in these casesl argue that they 2016 RMPS and Proclamation 9564 conflict
l ln Case Nurnber 16-1599, the American Forest Resource Council (a forest products trade association
representing lumber and plywood manufacturing companies) as well as the Carpenters Industrial Council,
Douglas Timber Operators, Inc., C & D Lurnber Co., Freres Lumber Co. lnc., Seneca Sawmill Company,
Starfire Lumber Co., lnc., and Swanson Group Mfg. LLC (all entities engaged in business related to the
timber industry) sued Brian Steed, BLM’s director, and Ryan Zinl