On December 12, a federal appeals court in California reinstated a Clinton-era rule that protects nearly 60 million acres of national forests from logging and road construction. The decision lifts an injunction issued by a federal judge in Idaho, who in May of 2001, found the rule would cause “irreparable harm” to the timber industry.

The Bush administration declined to appeal this ruling, and in fact, seemed to embrace it. However, a coalition of environmental groups, led by Earthjustice, intervened and won a strong rebuke to the injunction.

Specifically, the appeals court ruled that in issuing the injunction, Judge Edward Lodge overestimated the probable success of the plaintiffs at trial. (There must be a high probability of success for an injunction to be issued.) The timber industry contends that the Forest Service violated requirements for public input in issuing the rule. Yet over a three-year process, the agency held more than 600 public meetings and reviewed comments from 1.6 million Americans, most of them supporting the ban. The appeals court found this adequate.

The court also ruled that Lodge overstated the harm to the timber industry while ignoring important benefits, writing “[R]oadless areas contribute to the health of the public because they help preserve the forest system’s watersheds, the rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands that are ‘the circulatory system of ecosystems, and water is the vital fluid for inhabitants of these ecosystems, including people.’” The rule now goes back to Lodge for trial, deciding whether the rulemaking violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.