Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER MORRISON C. ENGLAND, Jr., District Judge. The Plaintiffs in this case, a group of environmental organizations, challenge the 2004 Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment (“SNFPA”), commonly known as the 2004 Framework, along with Basin, a site-specific forest management project promulgated following adoption of the 2004 Framework. Defendants are sued in their official capacities as representatives of the United States Forest Service (“Forest Service”). Plaintiffs contend that both the 2004 Framework and the Basin Plan, as promulgated by the Forest Service, run counter to the provisions of the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”) and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”). Presently before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment filed on behalf of both the Plaintiffs and Defendants. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The Sierra Nevada contains some 11.5 million acres of National Forest Service land with eleven National Forests and encompasses “dozens of complex ecosystems each with numerous, inter-connected social, economic and ecological components.” SNFPA 1920. In the late 1980s, the Forest Service began developing a comprehensive strategy for managing the myriad resources found within the region. In 1995, the Regional Forester for the Pacific Southwest Region of the Forest Service issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) outlining its management proposal. SNFPA 229. After extensive public participation and the preparation of a Final EIS responding to public concerns, the Regional Forester issued, in 2001, a Record of Decision (“ROD”) which adopted management objectives in five major areas: old forest ecosystems; aquatic, riparian, and meadow ecosystems; fire and fuels; noxious weeds; and hardwood ecosystems on the lower westside of the Sierras. Id. at 231-35. Among the thorniest issues confronted by the ROD was striking the appropriate balance between balancing the excessive fuel buildups occasioned by decades of fire repression and conserving key habitat for wildlife species dependent on old forest environments. The 2001 ROD included a network of “old forest emphasis areas” across about 40 percent of all national forest land in the Sierra Nevada that was designed to provide a contiguous network of old forest ecosystems conducive to species preferring such habitat like the California Spotted Owl, the American Marten and the Pacific Fisher. SNFPA 236. Aside from other areas slated for specific treatment (like a limited “urban wildland intermix” designed to create a buffer between developed areas and the forest), the 2001 Framework specified a “general forest” land allocation intended to increase the density of large old trees and the continuity and distribution of old forests across the landscape. SNFPA 236-37. In order to protect old forest conditions within its specific areas of emphasis, the 2001 Framework generally prohibited logging that would remove trees over 12 inches in diameter or logging that would reduce canopy cover by more than 10 percent. SNFPA 328. Even within the “general forest” areas, the 2001 Framework prohibited logging of trees over 20 inches in diameter. SNFPA 336. It was only within the intermix zones that no canopy restrictions were imposed and logging of trees up to 30 inches was permitted. SNFPA 333, 315. Although the Forest Service ultimately affirmed adoption of the 2001 ROD despite receipt of approximately 200 administrative appeals, it nonetheless directed the Regional Forester to conduct an additional review with respect to specific concerns like wildfire risk and the Forest Service’s responsibilities under the Herger-Fein-stein Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act (“HFQLG Act”), a congressional mandate which established a Pilot Program for fire suppression through a combination of fire breaks, group selection logging and individual logging. SNFPA 1918. A management review team was assembled by the Regional Forester for this purpose. In March 2003, the team concluded that the 2001 ROD’S “cautious approach” to active fuels management had limited its effectiveness in many treatment areas. The management review team further found that revisions to vegetation management rules would decrease flammable fuels while protecting critical wildlife habitat by guarding against the risk of stand-replacing wildfire. See SNFPA 1918, 1926. Moreover, with respect to the California Spotted Owl (“CASPO” or “owl”), the team felt that the 2001 ROD had unnecessarily “took a worst case approach to estimating effects” on the owl. SNFPA 1968. In addition to citing recent research indicating that habitat losses resulting from fuel treatments were less than previously believed, the team further found that the 2001 ROD’s extensive reliance on maintaining extensive canopy cover was impracticable to implement. Following receipt of the team’s findings, the Regional Forester ordered that management strategy alternatives in addition to those considered in the 2001 FEIS be considered. A draft supplemental environmental impact statement (“DSEIS”) was thereafter released to the public in January 2004. While the same five areas of concern were targeted in the DSEIS as in its 2001 predecessor, in 2004 a new action alternative was identified (Alternative S2), in addition to the alternative selected by the 2001 Framework (Alternative SI) and the seven alternatives that had previously been considered before adoption of the 2001 Framework (Alternatives F2-F8). Following the public comment period after dissemination of the DSEIS, the SEIS in final form also included response to various issues raised, including comments by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, by California resources protection agencies, and by the Science Consistency Review (“SCR”) team. By adopting the SEIS on January 21, 2004, the Regional Forester replaced the 2001 ROD with its 2004 successor and amended the forest plans for all eleven national forests situated in the Sierra Nevada. SNFPA 2987-3061. The 2004 ROD reasoned that the 2001 Framework “prescribed technical solutions that do not produce needed results, or offered methods we often dare not attempt in the current Sierra Nevada.” SNFPA 2995. The 2004 Framework reasoned that the methods as adopted in 2001 fail to reverse the damage, and growing threat, of catastrophic fires quickly enough. Id. The Chief of the Forestry Service ultimately affirmed the 2004 ROD, with the direction that details of the ROD’s adaptive management be submitted to him within six months. SNFPA 3997-4305. The Regional Forester submitted that supplemental information to the Chief on March 31, 2005. Through the present lawsuit, Plaintiffs allege that the 2004 Framework as ultimately adopted runs afoul of both the NFMA and NEPA on a programmatic basis. Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that the 2004 Framework violates the NFMA both because it fails to maintain viable populations of CASPOs as well as Pacific Fishers and American Martens, small forest carnivores that, like the owls, prefer old-growth forest habitats. Moreover, Plaintiffs also argue that the 2004 Framework runs afoul of NEPA because it was adopted without either adequate disclosure of its significant environmental impacts or consideration of reasonable alternatives to the selected approach. In addition to their general challenge to the 2004 Framework, Plaintiffs also target a site-specific plan adopted following the 2004 ROD, the Basin Group Selection Project (“Basin Project”). That Basin Project area is located within the Plumas National Forest (“PNF”) and encompasses some 38,893 acres south and west of Bucks Lake and north of the Middle Fork of the Feather River. BASIN 3665. The Project incorporates vegetation treatments designed to fulfill the management direction of the PNF’s Land and Resource Management Plan (“LRMP”), as amended by the HFQLG Act. BASIN 3666. The Basin Project envisions groups selection logging on 1,215 acres (in 800 one-to-two acre plots) and individual tree selection on another 80 acres, in which high-risk or crowded trees may be individually harvested while meeting established canopy-cover standards. BASIN 3643 Road changes within the Basin Project are also envisioned, as are improvements at road-stream crossings so as to reestablish fish passage and restore watershed connectivity. BASIN 3672-73. Implementation of the Project is anticipated over a five-year period. BASIN 3136. A scoping letter for the Basin Project was sent to interested parties on December 19, 2003. BASIN 3044, 3673. Thereafter, on March 3, 2004, the Forest Service initiated a formal 30-day notice and comment period by publishing a notice in a Quincy, California, newspaper. BASIN 3155. Also on March 3, 2004, a detailed description of the proposed project was sent to interested parties who had already requested notification with respect to proposed activities. Once comment letters were received, response to comments was prepared, and a public open house to facilitate discussion of the Project was held, the Forest Service prepared an Environmental Assessment (“EA”) for the Basin Project. BASIN 3657-3749. The EA considered two alternatives in detail: the no action alternative and its proposed action alterna-five. BASIN 3677. Seven other options were considered but eliminated from detailed consideration. The EA identified environmental resources subject to impact and considered the effects on each resource by the two alternatives scrutinized in detail. BASIN 3683-3722. Following consideration of the EA, the Forest Supervisor issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (“FONSI”) on August 25, 2004 and adopting the Basin Project pursuant to the EA. BASIN 3638-3656. On October 12, 2004, one of the Plaintiffs herein, SNFPA, appealed the Basin Project decision. BASIN 2713. After the Forest Service’s decision was affirmed, Plaintiffs brought the present action, which as stated above contends that the the 2004 Framework and the Basin Project violate the NFMA and NEPA both on a programmatic and site-specific basis. PROCEDURAL FRAMEWORK Congress enacted NEPA in 1969 to protect the environment by requiring certain procedural safeguards before an agency takes action affecting the environment. The NEPA process is designed to “ensure that the agency ... will have detailed information concerning significant environmental impacts; it also guarantees that the relevant information will be made available to the larger [public] audience.” Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project v. Blackwood, 161 F.3d 1208, 1212 (9th Cir.1998). The purpose of NEPA is to “ensure a process, not to ensure any result.” Id. “NEPA emphasizes the importance of coherent and comprehensive up-front environmental analysis to ensure informed decision-making to the end that the agency will not act on incomplete information, only to regret its decision after is it too late to correct.” Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Forest Serv., 349 F.3d 1157, 1166 (9th Cir.2003). Complete analysis under NEPA also assures that the public has sufficient information to challenge the agency’s decision. Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens, 490 U.S. 332, 349, 109 S.Ct. 1835, 104 L.Ed.2d 351 (1989); Idaho Sporting Cong. v. Thomas, 137 F.3d 1146, 1151 (9th Cir.1998). NEPA requires that all federal agencies, including the Forest Service, prepare a “detailed statement” that discusses the environmental ramifications, and alternatives, to all “major Federal Actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.” 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(c). An agency must take a “hard look” at the consequences, environmental impacts, and adverse environmental effects of a proposed action within an environmental impact statement (“EIS”), when required. Kleppe v. Sierra Club, 427 U.S. 390, 410, n. 21, 96 S.Ct. 2718, 49 L.Ed.2d 576 (1976). To determine whether an EIS is required, an agency may first prepare an environmental assessment (“EA”). The objective of an EA is to “[b]riefly provide sufficient evidence and analysis to determining whether to prepare” an EIS. 40 C.F.R. § 1508.9(a)(1). If the EA indicates that the federal action may significantly affect the quality of the human environment, the agency must prepare an EIS. 40 C.F.R. § 1501.4; 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C). In the event an agency determines that an EIS is not required, it must, as the Forest Service did here with respect to the Basin Project, issue a FONSI detailing why the action “will not have a significant effect on the human environment.” 40 C.F.R. § 1508.13. As is customary, the FONSI in this case is contained within the project EA. The EA must support the agency’s position that a FONSI is indicated. Blue Mountains, 161 F.3d as 1214. NEPA does not mandate that an EIS be based on a particular scientific methodology, nor does it require a reviewing court to weigh conflicting scientific data. Friends of Endangered Species, Inc. v. Jantzen, 760 F.2d 976, 986 (9th Cir.1985). An agency must be permitted discretion in relying on the reasonable opinions of its own qualified experts, even if the court might find contrary views more persuasive. See, e.g., Kleppe, 427 U.S. at 420, n. 21, 96 S.Ct. 2718. NEPA does not allow an agency to rely on the conclusions and opinions of its staff, however, without providing both supporting analysis and data. Idaho Sporting Cong., 137 F.3d at 1150. Credible scientific evidence that contraindicates a proposed action must be evaluated and disclosed. 40 C.F.R. § 1502.9(b). In addition to arguing that the Forest Service violated NEPA in this case, Plaintiffs also contend that the Basin Plan violates the NFMA, which requires that “resource plans and permits, contracts, and other instruments for the use and occupancy of National Forest Systems lands shall be consistent with the land management plans.” 16 U.S.C. § 1604(i). Consequently, all activities in Forest Service forests, including timber projects, must be determined to be consistent with the governing forest plan, which is a broad, programmatic planning document. See, e.g., Wilderness Society v. Thomas, 188 F.3d 1130, 1132 (9th Cir.1999). If an EA or EIS adequately discloses such effects, NEPA’s goal is satisfied. Inland Empire Pub. Lands Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 88 F.3d 754, 758 (9th Cir.1996) (emphasis in original). Because neither NEPA nor NFMA contains provisions allowing a private right of action (see Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, 497 U.S. 871, 882, 110 S.Ct. 3177, 111 L.Ed.2d 695 (1990) and Ecology Center Inc. v. United States, 192 F.3d 922, 924 (9th Cir.1999) for this proposition under NEPA and NFMA, respectively), a party can obtain judicial review of alleged violations of NEPA only under the waiver of sovereign immunity contained within the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-706. Earth Island Institute v. U.S. Forest Serv., 351 F.3d 1291, 1300 (9th Cir.2003). Under the APA, the court must determine whether, based on a review of the agency’s administrative record, agency action was “arbitrary and capricious,” outside the scope of the agency’s statutory authority, or otherwise not in accordance with the law. Salmon River Concerned Citizens v. Robertson, 32 F.3d 1346, 1356 (9th Cir.1994). Review under the APA is “searching and careful.” Ocean Advocates, 361 F.3d at 1118. However, the court may not substitute its own judgment for that of the agency. Id. (citing Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 91 S.Ct. 814, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971), overruled on other grounds by Califano v. Sanders, 430 U.S. 99, 97 S.Ct. 980, 51 L.Ed.2d 192 (1977)). In reviewing an agency’s actions, then, the standard to be employed is decidedly deferential to the agency’s expertise. Salmon River, 32 F.3d at 1356. Although the scope of review for agency action is accordingly limited, such action is not unimpeachable. The reviewing court must determine whether there is a rational connection between the facts and resulting judgment so as to support the agency’s determination. Baltimore Gas and Elec. v. NRDC, 462 U.S. 87, 105-06, 103 S.Ct. 2246, 76 L.Ed.2d 437 (1983), citing Bowman Trans. Inc. v. Arkansas-Best Freight Sys. Inc., 419 U.S. 281, 285-86, 95 S.Ct. 438, 42 L.Ed.2d 447 (1974). An agency’s review is arbitrary and capricious if it fails to consider important aspects of the issues before it, if it supports its decisions with explanations contrary to the evidence, or if its decision is either inherently implausible or contrary to governing law. The Lands Council v. Powell, 395 F.3d 1019, 1026 (9th Cir.2005). STANDARD Summary judgment is an appropriate procedure in reviewing agency decisions under the dictates of the APA. See, e.g., Northwest Motorcycle Assn. v. U.S. Dept. Of Agric., 18 F.3d 1468, 1471-72 (9th Cir.1994). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, summary judgment may accordingly be had where, viewing the evidence and the inferences arising therefrom in favor of the nonmovant, there are “no genuine issues of material fact in dispute.” Id. at 1472. In cases involving agency action, however, the court’s task “is not to resolve contested facts questions which may exist in the underlying administrative record,” but rather to determine whether the agency decision was arbitrary and capricious as defined by the APA and discussed above. Gilbert Equipment Co., Inc. v. Higgins, 709 F.Supp. 1071, 1077 (S.D.Ala.1989); aff'd, Gilbert Equipment Co. Inc. v. Higgins, 894 F.2d 412 (11th Cir.1990); see also Occidental Eng’g Co. v. INS, 753 F.2d 766, 769 (9th Cir.1985). Consequently, in reviewing an agency decision, the court must be “searching and careful” in ensuring that the agency has taken a “hard look” at the environmental consequences of its proposed action. Ocean Advocates v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 402 F.3d 846, 858-59 (9th Cir.2005); Or. Natural Res. Council v. Lowe, 109 F.3d 521, 526 (9th Cir.1997). ANALYSIS I. NFMA CLAIMS A. Applicable Regulations In analyzing the viability of Plaintiffs NFMA claims against both the Framework and the Basin Project, the Court must first determine the applicable NFMA regulations that apply in assessing the propriety of the Forest Service’s actions. First, with respect to the 2004 Framework, the Forest Service has conceded that the 1982 Rules apply to issuance of the Framework. See Fed. Defs.’ Mem. in Supp. of Cross Mot. for Summ. J. at p. 16, n. 17. Because the 2004 Framework was initiated before the transition period established by the 2005 regulations, the Forest Service elected to use the 1982 regulations to guide the plan amendment process. See, e.g., SNFPA 4056 (“The Responsible Official elected to remain under the 1982 regulations. The transition provisions of the 2000 Regulations, which were in effect when the Forest Service proposed and adopted the 2004 Framework, authorized the Regional Forester to continue or initiate forest plan amendments under the 1982 regulations.”) See 36 C.F.R. § 219.35 (2004); 67 Fed.Reg. 35,431, 35,434 (May 20, 2002). Because the 2005 regulations provide the Forest Service with discretion to apply the 1982 plan amendments initiated prior to January 5, 2005 transition period for applying the new regulations, it was clearly not improper for the Forest Service to apply the 1982 regulations to the 2004 Framework. See 36 C.F.R. § 219.14(e) (plan amendments initiated before said transition period “may continue to use the provisions of the planning regulations in effect before November 9, 2000 ... or may conform to the requirements” of the 2005 regulations). The record indicates that the Regional Forester made the decision to apply the 1982 regulations that applied before 2000. See SNFPA 3010 (“My decision confirms with the 1982 planning regulations (36 CFR 219) that implement [NFMA].”); SNFPA 4056 (“The 2004 [Framework] was prepared under the NFMA and the 1982 implementing regulations of the NFMA.”). The Ninth Circuit has consequently confirmed that the 1982 regulations apply to the 2004 Framework. In Natural Res. Def. Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 421 F.3d 797, 800 n. 3 (9th Cir.2005), the court applied the 1982 regulations in reviewing the forest plan, for the Tongass National Forest, a programmatic document similar to the 2004 Framework at issue here. More recently, in Earth Island Institute v. U.S. Forest Serv., 442 F.3d 1147, 1153 (9th Cir.2006), the Ninth Circuit stated unequivocally that “we conclude that NFMA regulations promulgated in 1982 apply to the 2001 Framework and 2004 Supplement.” While providing clear guidance on the applicability of NFMA regulations to the 2004 Framework, the 2005 regulations fail to specifically address what regulations govern site-specific projects, like the Basin Project, that were approved prior to the transition period. In the absence of that regulatory guidance, the Forest Service urges the Court to apply case law suggesting that statutes and regulations may be applied retroactively if doing so would not impact interests already vested through reliance on previous provisions. See, e.g., Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994). The Forest Service explicitly developed the Basin Project pursuant to the 1982 NFMA regulations, however. See BASIN 3726 (stating that the Basin Project is consistent with the 1982 regulations “which remain in effect at this time”). This makes it unnecessary to resort to the guidelines delineated in Landgraf, which do not apply where the proper reach of new rules has already been expressly prescribed, since in that instance “there is no need to resort to judicial default rules.” Id. at 280, 114 S.Ct. 1483. Ninth Circuit law also indicates that the 1982 regulations govern judicial review of the Basin Project. See, e.g., Oregon Natural Resources Council Fund v. Goodman, 505 F.3d 884, 889 (9th Cir.2007); Environmental Prot. Info. Ctr. v. United States Forest Serv., 451 F.3d 1005, 1017 n. 8 (9th Cir.2006). Even were the 2005 regulations to be applicable, which the Court does not believe to be the case, those regulations have recently been enjoined on a nationwide basis by the Northern District. In Citizens for Better Forestry v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 481 F.Supp.2d 1059, 1076, 1090, 1097 (N.D.Cal.2007), the court held that the Forest Service’s adoption of the 2005 regulations violated both NEPA and the Endangered Species Act, and enjoined the Service from implementing or utilizing the 2005 rules on a nationwide basis. Given the Court’s conclusion that the 1982 regulations apply both on the programmatic level of the 2004 Framework and the site-specific focus of the Basin Project, it must next consider to what extent claims made in the context of the 1982 rules are ripe for adjudication. B. Ripeness Several parties intervening in this litigation have argued that Plaintiffs’ NFMA challenges are not ripe because they constitute challenges to the entire 2004 Framework, rather than justiciable site-specific challenges. {See, e.g., CSIA’s Opp. to Pis.’ Mot. for Summ. J., pp. 6-9). The judicial ripeness doctrine is properly invoked to ensure that courts avoid premature adjudication of disputes by refraining from any judicial interference until a administrative decision has been formalized and causes concrete ramifications to the challenging parties. Ohio Forestry Ass’n v. Sierra Club, 523 U.S. 726, 733, 118 S.Ct. 1665, 140 L.Ed.2d 921 (1998); Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136, 148-49, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967). By leaving programmatic decisions and relief to the two political branches of government, and addressing only site-specific challenges with real and palpable ramifications, the appropriate deference to the separation of powers vital to our system of government is properly respected. See Lujan v. Nat’l Wildlife Fed’n, 497 U.S. 871, 891-94, 899, 110 S.Ct. 3177, 111 L.Ed.2d 695 (1990). With this analytical structure in mind, we turn to the NFMA claims asserted by Plaintiffs against both the 2004 Framework and the Basin Project. The Supreme Court, in Ohio Forestry Ass’n v. Sierra Club, 523 U.S. 726, 118 S.Ct. 1665, 140 L.Ed.2d 921, has held that an NFMA-based facial challenge to the overall provisions of a forest plan is not ripe when premised on allegations of potential environmental hardship. By permitting judicial review in a later as-applied challenge to a specific implementation of the plan, judicial review and relief may still be granted in advance of any concrete environmental injury. Id. at 734, 118 S.Ct. 1665. Similar NFMA challenges to forest planning rules in the abstract, divorced from the parameters of intended action, are similarly unripe. Citizens for Better Forestry v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 341 F.3d 961, 977 (9th Cir.2003). In addition, forest-wide monitoring claims are also not yet appropriate for judicial review, since the wildlife information the Forest Service has at any given point in time does not produce direct injury in any meaningful way unless and until ground-disturbing activities are imminent. Ecology Ctr. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 192 F.3d 922 (9th Cir.1999). To find otherwise would permit the court to engage in theoretical speculation about the possibility of future injury — just the sort of “abstract disagreement over administrative policies” that the ripeness doctrine seeks to avoid. Ohio Forestry, 523 U.S. at 736, 118 S.Ct. 1665. With respect to the 2004 Framework, this means that Plaintiffs’ challenge to the overall 2004 Framework, to the extent that program wide non-compliance with wildlife viability and population monitoring are alleged, is unripe. The fact that the Basin Project raises issues stemming from the 2004 Framework does not render the entire Framework amenable to judicial review and relief. The Supreme Court, in Lujan, supra, made this clear: “[T]he flaws in the entire ‘program’ .... cannot be laid before the courts for wholesale correction under the APA, simply because one [implementing] action’ is ripe for review [and] adversely affects one of [plaintiffs] members. The case-by-case approach that this requires is understandably frustrating to an organization ... [whose goal is] across-the-board protection of ... .wildlife and the streams and forests that support it. But this.... remains the normal, mode of operation of the courts.[W]e intervene in the administration of the laws only when, and to the extent that, a specific ‘final agency action’ has an actual or immediately threatened effect.” Lujan v. NWF, 497 U.S. at 893-94, 110 S.Ct. 3177. To the contrary, the only ripe suit entails “site-specific actions as the focus of the challenge,” and a showing of a “site-specific injury causally related to an alleged defect in the forest plan” is required before the court considers the legality of a programmatic document like the Framework in the context of the site-specific challenge. Wilderness Soc’y v. Thomas, 188 F.3d 1130, 1133-34 (9th Cir.1999). Any relief accorded by the court is limited to the scope of the justiciable site-specific controversy. Lujan v. NWF, 497 U.S. at 894, 110 S.Ct. 3177 (review and relief “only ... to the extent” required to adjudicate a site-specific action). Here, the effects of forest treatments contemplated by the Basin Plan represent a tangible, rather than theoretical injury. Moreover, to the extent that the lawfulness of the Basin Plan hinges on whether or not site specific practices are premised on the propriety of forest-wide management practices, both the Basin Plan itself and the 2004 Framework upon which it relies may be scrutinized. Neighbors of Cuddy Mtn. v. Alexander, 303 F.3d 1059, 1067 (9th Cir.2002). As Cuddy Mountain recognizes, it must nonetheless be emphasized that not all forest-wide practices can be challenged on the coattails of a site-specific action; there must be a causal relationship between the lawfulness of the site-specific action and the practice challenged. Id. As a practical matter, this means that the 2004 Framework may be challenged under NFMA only to the extent its provisions are implicated within Plaintiffs challenge to the site-specific Basin Project. All other general challenges to the 2004 Framework as a programmatic document are unripe. C. Failure to Maintain Viable Species Populations Plaintiffs maintain that the record in this case demonstrates the inadequacy of the 2004 Framework to maintain viable species, and particularly targets the inadequacy of the Framework to ensure sufficient populations of the California spotted owl, the Pacific fisher, and the American marten. Plaintiffs point to the fact that the 1982 NFMA regulations require the Forest Service to manage wildlife habitat so as “to maintain viable populations of existing native and desired non-native vertebrate species in the planning area.” 36 C.F.R. § 219.19; see also Oregon Natural Desert Ass’n v. U.S. Forest Serv., 2004 WL 1592606 at *2 (D.Or.2004) (“[NFMA] imposes a substantive duty on the Forest Service to provide sufficient habitat to maintain viable, well-distributed populations of wildlife species throughout their existing ranges.”). By enforcement of these alleged NFMA violations under NEPA, Plaintiffs urge the Court to find the 2004 Framework arbitrary and capricious, and to set aside all projects approved in accordance with the Framework, including the Basin Project. See Idaho Sporting Congress v. Rittenhouse, 305 F.3d 957, 966 (9th Cir.2002) (“If the forest plan’s [viability] standard is invalid ... then the timber sales that depend upon it to comply with [NFMA] are not in accordance with law and must be set aside.”). As discussed above, however, assessment of the validity of such viability standards is necessarily limited by the scope of the site-specific project at issue. The plan-level challenge to the Framework is therefore confined to the plan-level issues found in the Basin Project. See Ohio Forestry, 523 U.S. at 734, 118 S.Ct. 1665. Since we have also established that the 1982 planning regulations apply, we hence analyze the viability issues raised by the Basin Project, with the 2004 Framework coming into play only to the extent its planning directives in that regard are manifested by Basin. Another fundamental concept that guides our viability assessment is the notion that forest management cannot be guided by a single, overarching objective that eclipses consideration of other legitimate forest uses. Such multiple use compromises are implicit in the overall mandate of the NFMA. See 16 U.S.C. § 1604(g)(3)(B) (species diversity to be addressed in light of “overall multiple-use objectives”); 36 C.F.R. § 219.27(a)(6) (2000) (species habitat to be maintained and improved “to the degree consistent with multiple-use objectives”); 36 C.F.R. § 219.26 (provide for diversity consistent with multiple-use objectives of the planning area); 36 C.F.R. § 219.27(a)(5) (forest plans should “maintain diversity of plant and animal communities to meet overall multiple-use objectives”); see also Lands Council v. McNair, 537 F.3d 981, 989-90 (9th Cir.2008) (Congress has “consistently acknowledged that the Forest Service must balance competing demands in managing National Forest Service lands”); Seattle Audubon Soc. v. Moseley, 80 F.3d 1401, 1404 (9th Cir.1996). In examining the viability of the three species Plaintiffs’ claim is compromised by the Basin Plan, and in turn its programmatic blueprint, the 2004 Framework, then, considerations of multiple use must be kept in mind. The Forest Service has substantial discretion in how to balance multiple resource use on its lands, even to the extent that such uses intersect with viability concerns. See 16 U.S.C. § 529 (directing Secretary of Agriculture to administer forest lands for multiple uses and sustained yield); Lands Council v. McNair, 537 F.3d at 989-90 (“[T]he NFMA is explicit that wildlife viability is not the Forest Service’s only consideration when developing site-specific plans for National Forest System lands”); Perkins v. Bergland, 608 F.2d 808, 806 (9th Cir.1979). Significantly, as long as all relevant considerations are properly weighed and analyzed, the Forest Service can decide not to adopt a course intended to facilitate viability to the greatest extent possible if such a course would compromise other multiple use objectives. See Seattle Audubon Soc. v. Moseley, 80 F.3d at 1404. The language of the 1982 NFMA regulations themselves, at 36 C.F.R. § 219.19, requires only that sufficient habitat be managed to maintain a “viable population” of desired species, with that term defined one which has a sufficient number of reproductive individuals to insure that the species’ “continued existence is well distributed in the planning area.” This does not require that species’ numbers be maximized by adoption of the most protective forest management measures. Instead, the Ninth Circuit has recognized that § 219.19 simply sets a minimum threshold for ensuring enough reproductive individuals “so that the species can survive.” Idaho Sporting Congress, Inc. v. Rittenhouse, 305 F.3d 957, 963 (9th Cir.2002). * The Basin Project’s BA/BE analyzed the amount of suitable wildlife habitat currently available within the project area and, after comparing that assessment with habitat changes resulting from implementation of the project, concluded that 72 percent of the acreage comprising the Basin planning area would remain good owl, fisher and marten habitat even after contemplated fuel treatment activities had been completed. See BASIN 3539 and 3553 (owl PACs, SOHA, and additional nesting and foraging habitat total 37,833 acres in the 52,570 acre analysis area); BASIN 3695 (projected changes in CWHR habitat types). This number in and of itself suggests that completion of the Basin Project will leave vast amounts of suitable habitat untouched, a factor which would appear to bode well for continued viability of the three species at issue within the area of the Basin Project. Significantly, the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Lands Council v. McNair reaffirms that the amount of suitable habitat for a particular species may properly be used as a proxy for the viability of that species. 537 F.3d at 995-96. Importantly, too, other factors considered by the Forest Service in approving both the Framework and the project itself bolster that conclusion. With regard to the California spotted owl, the 2003 Meta-analysis of all existing demographic data found the owl to be, within a 95 percent confidence level, a stable population and not declining as was previously believed. BASIN 3720. Moreover, the latest research considered by the Forest Service in considering the 2004 Framework indicated 1) that owls utilize a wider variety of habitat for foraging (namely, habitats with canopy coverage of 40 percent or greater) than previously thought; 2) that owls are being protected on private timberlands pursuant to state law; 3) that owls are not suffering from any demonstrable population declines; and 4) that owls are suffering habitat loss from wildfires. SNFPA 3099, 3213-18. The Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group (“HFQLG”) Act, of which the Basin Project is a part, is more protective of owls than either the 2001 or 2004 Frameworks because it completely prohibits logging in owl PACs. BASIN 1077. Because owls appear to be widely distributed throughout both the Plumas National Forest and the Basin Project area (BASIN 1168, 3694), and given the protection accorded to the most crucial habitat area (PACs and SOHA), the Forest Supervisor reasonably concluded that owl viability could be achieved while also carrying out the multi-use objectives of the HFQLG Act. BASIN 8644-45. This was believed to be particularly true inasmuch as overall owl habitat is projected to increase under the 2004 Framework (see SNFPA 3340), with a larger number of old trees resulting from both tree retention and, by virtue of anticipated forest thinning, a decreased loss of large trees to stand-replacing fire. See SNFPA 3346, 3316. By decreasing the risk of catastrophic wildfire through such selective thinning, lesser amounts of suitable old-growth owl habitat are subject to destruction while at the same time promoting multiple-use objectives like timber production and protection to human community resources. This multi-use synergy is consistent with NFMA mandates, and approval of the Basin Project does not run afoul of statutory viability standards applicable to the California spotted owl under these circumstances. As indicated above, the other two species implicated by Plaintiffs, the American marten and the Pacific fisher, are both forest carnivores. Although the BA/BE for the Basin Project discussed both population and habitat data concerning four forest carnivores, including both the fisher and marten, only the marten has been sighted at locations within the Plumas National Forest where the Basin Project is situated. BASIN 3353. The BA/BE explains that systematic surveys of the project area, encompassing “approximately 50% of the forest, have failed to reveal either the presence of fisher or the other two absent furbearer species, the Sierra Nevada red fox and the wolverine.” BASIN 3554. Because the fisher does not appear to inhabit the Basin Project only, it was unnecessary for the Forest Service to have analyzed the impacts to the Fisher as to that site-specific project, and for the reasons stated above any generalized challenge to the 2004 Framework as a whole with respect to fishers would be unripe. Nonetheless, as the Framework points out, the owl and fisher share many of the same preferred old-growth habitat attributes, and hence the protections afforded to the owl as would appear to benefit any potential fisher population as well. See SNFPA 2997, 3315. With regard to the marten, the Forest Service looked at the fact that marten will use harvested areas for habitat, as long as adequate ground cover and downed logs remain onsite. SNFPA 3325. This corresponds with the group selection units which figure prominently in the Basin Project as well the HFQLG Act area as a whole, and the SEIS concluded that those units were “within the size range of openings used by marten.” SNFPA 3329. In addition, a network of high quality habitat for forest carnivores, including martens, has been delineated within the SEIS, which “provide[s] connectivity to marten populations to the north and south of the HFQLG” area. Id. Additionally, Scientific Analysis team guidelines applicable to the HFQLG Act establish treatment buffers around riparian areas, which are of “high importance to marten” and are often used as corridors. SNFPA 3329; 16 U.S.C. § 2104 note, Sec. 401(c)(2)(a). Perhaps most importantly, in concluding that viability for all three species would be maintained by the Basin Project, the Forest Service relied upon the fact that forested habitats affected by the project would be a relatively small 3.6 percent of the total project areas. Additionally, surveys are required for both owl, fisher, and marten prior to commencement of a site-specific project like Basin. SNFPA 3698, 3699. If any new owl territories of fisher or marten dens are located, the Forest Service has developed an adaptive plan to respond to such findings, a plan that could include changing treatment prescriptions, excluding project activity from implicated harvest units, or proceeding under limited operating periods (“LOPs”), which are designed to reduce potential harm to wildlife during critical seasons like nesting or fawning. Id., see also SNFPA 3537. Because the Basin Project was deemed to be fully consistent with the terms of the 2004 Framework, the Basin EA properly tiered its analysis to the 2004 Framework SEIS, and could maintain viability standards by following the 2004 Framework standards and guidelines discussed above. See BASIN 3645, 3663, 3683; see 40 C.F.R. § 1502.20 (encouraging tiering to “eliminate repetitive discussion about the same issues and to focus on the actual issues ripe for decision”); see also Portland Audubon Soc’y v. Lujan, 884 F.2d 1233, 1239 (9th Cir.1989) (upholding an Environmental Assessment’s tiering to a programmatic EIS). In sum, given the relatively small percentage of suitable habitat affected by the Basin Project for any of the species implicated by Plaintiffs in their NFMA challenge to the Basin Project, as well as the consideration accorded for multiple use objectives, the Forest Service did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in finding that the Project would maintain species viability concurrently with meeting other multiple-use objectives. The mandates of NFMA was therefore satisfied and the Forest Service is entitled to summary adjudication as to Plaintiffs’ First and Fourth Claims, which allege that the Forest Service failed to maintain viable populations of California spotted owls, Pacific fishers and American martens throughout the Sierra Nevada planning area. D. Population Monitoring Plaintiffs also allege that the Forest Service adopted the 2004 Framework, and thereafter the Basin Project, in the absence of information required under the NFMA for Management Indicator Species (“MIS”) and Species at Risk (“SAR”). Plaintiffs point to the fact that under the 1982 NFMA regulations, the Forest Service is required to monitor population trends for each MIS. See 36 C.F.R. § 219.19(a)(6) (“Population trends of MIS “will be monitored and relationships to habitat changes determined.” ”). According to Plaintiffs, the application regulation requires MIS population inventories consisting of quantitative data. 36 C.F.R. § 219.26 (“Inventories shall include quantitative data making possible the evaluation of diversity in terms of its prior and present condition.”). Consistent with the regulations, the 2001 Framework designated certain MIS for the Sierra Nevada planning area in Exhibit E of its final EIS. Appendix E goes on to indicate the specific species “for which population trend data is expected to be obtained” by way of population monitoring. FEIS Yol. 4 at E-64-66, 76, 98-100. The Forest Service incorporated and readopted Appendix E from the 2001 FEIS when it approved the 2004 Framework. See SNFPA 3060. While Plaintiffs attempt to challenge the Forest Service’s purported failure to perform the required monitoring on a Framework-wide basis, as stated above the only ripe NFMA claims are those that relate specifically to the Basin Project as a site-specific plan. Accordingly, the only MIS or SAR at issue are those that are found within the Plumas National Forest plan in which the Basin plan area is located. Species not identified in the Plumas Forest Plan do not “play[ ] a causal role” in the Basin Project. Ohio Forestry, 523 U.S. at 734, 118 S.Ct. 1665. Consistent with this conclusion, the SEIS itself recognizes that “MIS are identified in the Land and Resource Management Plans of each national forest ...” SNFPA 3238, emphasis added. Therefore, as a fundamental matter, there can be no duty to obtain or consider population monitoring data for MIS that are not found within the Plumas National Forest plan. The Plumas Forest Plan lists fifteen species and species groups as MIS: bald eagle, golden eagle goshawk, peregrine falcon, prairie falcon, spotted owl, Canada goose, woodpecker group, deer group, gray squirrel, marten, trout group, largemouth bass, sensitive plant group, and willow-alder community. BASIN 2917. The Basin EA considered effects upon the habitat of all of these fifteen Plumas MIS. Since it appears un-controverted that actual quantitative population monitoring was not performed, however, the question remains whether the Forest Service’s failure in that regard violates the NFMA. The Forest Service initially argues that it met its monitoring requirements by engaging in an assessment of species habitat as a proxy for changes in population. See Native Ecosystems Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 428 F.3d 1233, 1250-51 (9th Cir.2005); Inland Empire, 88 F.3d at 759, 763; Utah Environmental Congress v. Bosworth, 372 F.3d 1219, 1224 (10th Cir.2004). Although habitat assessment may suffice for actual population monitoring in some situations (where for example some actual population data has already been obtained), here there appears to be a paucity of numerical data, and in that instance NFMA requirements are not ordinarily satisfied. See Sierra Club v. Martin, 168 F.3d 1, 4-6 (11th Cir.1999). This is particularly the case given the fact that Appendix E to the 2001 and 2004 Frameworks appears to require population monitoring as opposed to habitat analysis. See Eubanks, 335 F.Supp.2d at 1082. The Court nonetheless recognizes that the Ninth Circuit has indicated that monitoring directives contained in forest plans like the 2001 and 2004 Frameworks are not judicially enforceable. See Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness Alliance, 542 U.S. 55, 67-72, 124 S.Ct. 2373, 159 L.Ed.2d 137 (2004) (species monitoring in designated areas, “like the other ‘will do’ projections of agency action set forth in land use plans — are not a legally binding commitment”). On the other hand, however, a slightly more recent Ninth Circuit decision, Earth Island Inst. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 442 F.3d 1147, 1153 (9th Cir.2006), appears to suggest otherwise. In finding that approval and implementation of a site-specific project was contrary to the NFMA and governing provisions of the forest plan, the Earth Island court explained that because the Frameworks expressly required population monitoring, “it is difficult to see how distribution data could effectively be gathered in the absence of actual population monitoring.” Id. at 1175-76. The recent enactment of a new forest plan amendment applicable to all the national forests in the Sierra Nevada region (the “2007 Amendment”), however, removes any uncertainty in this regard, since the 2007 revision expressly removes the population monitoring requirements contained in the 2001 and 2004 Frameworks. The 2007 Amendment is authorized by NFMA provisions that permit the Forest Service to amend forest plans “in any manner whatsoever.” 16 U.S.C. § 1604(f)(4). This broad delegation of authority gives the Forest Service discretion to determine whether forest plan amendments can be applied retroactively. See Forest Guardians v. Dombeck, 131 F.3d 1309, 1312 (9th Cir.1997) (“Congress intended to grant the Secretary discretion in amending existing forest plans, including the discretion to determine how those amendments will be implemented,” whether prospectively or retroactively). The 2007 Amendment recognizes that current MIS lists and associated monitoring “are simply not working for a variety of reasons, including inclusion of species whose population changes are not clearly related to habitat changes on National Forest lands, and inclusion of species not present in sufficient numbers to allow collection of meaningful information.” The 2007 Amendment changes the standard for evaluating whether a site-specific project like the Basin Project complies with MIS forest plan requirements in general, and further provides a specific exemption for pending projects like Basin where an EA has been completed and a decision made. For those projects, the 2007 Amendment makes it clear that “obligations relating to MIS will have been met if the project record discloses impacts the project may have on MIS habitat or populations, using the MIS list in effect at the time the MIS analysis was conducted. No other project-level analysis or disclosure requirements shall apply to these project, including any particular requirements related to MIS set forth in Appendix E of the 2001 Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment FEIS or the individual forest plans covered by this amendment. All such requirements are superseded by this direction.” 2007 Amendment, Ex. “A” to Fed. Defs.’ Notice of Changed Circumstances, p. 15. With regard to Species at Risk (“SAR”), a classification with respect to which Plaintiffs argue that Forest Service also ran afoul of NFMA provisions, the 2007 Amendment states unequivocally that there are no legal requirements for monitoring SAR. Id. at 13. Given the unfettered discretion granted by Congress to the Forest Service, pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 1604(f), to amend forest plans “in any manner whatsoever”, and the fact that such discretion has been expansively interpreted by the Ninth Circuit as permitting amendment either prospectively or retroactively (Dombeck, 131 F.3d at 1312), this Court concludes that the 2007 Amendment renders any monitoring controversy concerning the Basin Project moot. See Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition v. U.S. Forest Serv., 357 F.3d 1130, 1133-34 (10th Cir.2004) (arguments based on failure to comply with earlier version of Forest Plan rendered moot by issuance of new Plan which superseded its challenged predecessor); see also Forest Guardians v. U.S. Forest Serv., 329 F.3d 1089, 1096 (9th Cir.2003) (challenge to earlier biological opinion rendered moot by issuance of superseding version). Plaintiffs’ attempt to distinguish the Colorado Off Highway case on grounds that in that case, unlike the present matter, the Plaintiff failed to challenge the validity of the amended plan. The Court does not view that factor as dispositive given Colorado’s fundamental holding that no legal attack can be made against an administrative decision superseded by issuance of a new Forest Plan. That mootness holding applies equally to this case. Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition, 357 F.3d at at 1134. The Court is similarly unpersuaded by Plaintiffs’ contention that the monitoring issue remains viable because retroactive application of the 2007 Amendment regarding MIS monitoring is contrary to NFMA and because the Amendment itself is inconsistent with the applicable regulations. See Pis.’ Reply to Notice of Changed Circumstances, 3:25-4:2. First, as already indicated, retroactive application of the applications if permissible given the broad sweep of 16 U.S.C. § 1604(f) and the Ninth Circuit’s interpretation of the statute in Dombeck. Additionally, as also stated above, the 1982 regulations require that population trends of MIS “will be monitored and relationships to habitat changes determined.” 36 C.F.R. § 219(a)(6). The regulation does not specifically dictate how monitoring should be accomplished, and the Ninth Circuit has held, even in the face of the 1982 regulations, that actual monitoring need not be conducted where the Forest service has utilized a reliable alternative methodology instead. See Inland Empire Pub. Lands Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 88 F.3d 754, 763 (9th Cir.1996) (finding that the Forest Service did not violate NFMA in analyzing habitat instead of conducting actual population monitoring); see also Native Ecosystems Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 428 F.3d 1233, 1250-51 (9th Cir.2005) (recognizing circumstances where Forest Service need not conduct actual population monitoring); Idaho Sporting Cong. v. Thomas, 137 F.3d 1146, 1154 (9th Cir.1998) (identifying instances where habitat analysis can be used as a proxy for population monitoring). Consequently Plaintiffs’ argument that anything less than monitoring cannot satisfy NFMA is misplaced. Defendants are entitled to summary adjudication as to Plaintiffs’ Second Claim, which alleges that the 2004 Framework and Basin Project were adopted in the absence of required population trend data. II. NEPA CLAIMS As set forth above, since Plaintiffs NFMA claims are substantive in nature, their NFMA challenges to the 2004 Framework as a whole are only ripe for review to the extent a site-specific project like Basin brings specific provisions of the Framework to the forefront. NEPA, however, unlike NFMA, imposes procedural rather than substantive requirements. Consequently, the 2004 Framework can be properly scrutinized in toto to ensure that those procedural mandates have been satisfied. As also indicated above, NEPA only requires that federal agencies establish a consistent process for considering environmental impacts, and take a “hard look” at the consequences of such impacts. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 558, 98 S.Ct. 1197, 55 L.Ed.2d 460 (1978). So long as “the adverse environmental effects of the proposed action are adequately identified and evaluated, the agency is not constrained by NEPA from deciding that other values outweigh the environmental costs.” Id. A. Failure to Adequately Consider Direct and Indirect Impacts to Old-Forest Species Plaintiffs’ Fifth Claim alleges that the 2004 Framework violates NEPA by not adequately analyzing impacts to species like the owl, fisher and marten, which all prefer old-growth forest conditions. Pis.’ Second Am. Compl., ¶¶ 113-119. In analyzing whether the Forest Service was deficient in this regard, it is important to initially consider the extent to which the 2004 Framework is expected to impact old-growth habitat. The record discloses that any such effect appears minimal. No treatments under the Framework are projected for some 86 percent of Old Forest Emphasis Area (“OFEA”). SNFPA 3332. Treatment in Protected Activity Centers (“PACs”), which, as indicated above, comprise 300 acre parcels around each known owl nest or roosting site, are very limited throughout the Framework area and virtually nonexistent in the HFQLG area where most of the logging is scheduled to take place. SNFPA 2997; 3121-3122; 3336. Moreover, no treatment of any kind will occur within 80 percent of the 1,000 acre Home Range Core Areas (“HRCAs”) set aside in conjunction with each PAC, and to the limited extent such treatments occur they are permitted only outside a 500 acre radius surrounding the PAC. Id., see also SNFPA 3334. Even outside of HRCAs and PACs, the more intensive vegetation treatments under the 2004 Framework are likely to reduce canopy cover to 40 percent on only 8 percent of acres treated currently at 50 percent canopy cover or greater. SNFPA 3344. Treated areas will retain landscape features recognized as being important to old-forest dependent species, like larger trees (in excess of 30 inches in diameter), snags, and 40 percent plus canopy. SNFPA 2995; 2997; 3341. Finally, in comparing the 2001 and 2004 Frameworks, there is a negligible difference in the short run between 2001 and 2004 Frameworks as to the available acres of late serai stage forest, with an overall increase in the long terra (60 plus years). SNFPA 3327. On the basis of the quantified habitat impact disclosed by the 2004 Framework, then, the effect of the 2004 Framework on old-forest species appears negligible. Plaintiffs nonetheless claim that the short-term effects upon such species have not adequately been disclosed for purposes of NEPA. Any consideration of the effects of vegetation treatments in the Sierra Nevada necessarily involves a difficult balancing act between the short-term risk that some old-growth species may be displaced by any habitat disturbance, and the longer term risk that without reducing forest density through thinning and logging operations, stand-replacing wildfires may eliminate suitable habitat in its entirety. The FSEIS for the 2004 Framework specifically recognizes that it is a very difficult task to find the best way to protect old forest dependant species and to increase and perpetuate old forest ecosystems, while at the same time addressing the desperate need for forest intervention to reduce the risk of fuel loads feeding catastrophic fires. SNFPA 2995. A thinning program to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire will reduce the likelihood of stand-replacing fires in old growth areas in the future. SNFPA 2995, 3083; 3266, 3336. Significantly, as the FSEIS also recognizes, recent fire seasons illustrate the risks from inaction as the number and severity of acres burned in wildfires continues to increase, with tragic losses to communities, their people and resources, as well as to wildland firefighters. Moreover, to the extent that forests are overstocked and drought conditions are present, an overall lack of sufficient moisture makes forest drier and not only more susceptible to fire but also prone to insect and disease damage. SNFPA 2996. The Forest Service has the unenviable task of attempting to simultaneously weigh these significant competing considerations with the risks, both long and short term, to old-forest species like the owl, fisher and marten. Despite Plaintiffs’ claim that the 2004 Framework fails to provide enough analysis of its likely impacts to wildlife, especially in short run, the SEIS does recognize the importance of addressing short term impacts. The importance of consideration short term impacts on the owl is specifically recognized. See SNFPA 3327, 3337 (“With regard to owl population persistence, the short-term effects of management activities are believed to be most relevant.... and are highlighted in this effects analysis.”), see also SNFPA 3339-3345. The FSEIS additionally recognizes that logging treatments “over the short-term (20 years) may introduce some unknown level of risk to the California spotted owl population.” SNFPA 3340. The 2004 Framework nonetheless attempts to mitigate that risk, while at the same time meeting not only the long term objective of long-term habitat preservation through the reduced risk of stand-replacing fire, but also the other multi-use considerations enumerated above. Although uncertainty remains concerning rangewide population trends, there is no definitive evidence that overall owl populations are decreasing across the Sierra Nevada. SNFPA 3214. The 2003 meta-analysis conducted by spotted owl biologists, which includes the only demographic studies of owl population trends, survival and reproduction over the previous 7 to 12 years, recommends adaptive management experiments to evaluate the effects on the owl of silvicultural treatments designed to reduce fire risk. SNFPA 3152. Adaptive management strategies are “intended to improve scientific knowledge regarding the fire and fuels strategy as well as habitat relationships and vegetation management effects on California spotted owls.” SNFPA 3608. Adaptive management encourages scientific scrutiny so that elements of the plan can be adjusted to “better balance management of the California spotted owl with management for other resources and activities.” Id. The 2004 Framework does adopt adaptive management strategies, which permit the Forest Service to respond to any short-term impacts as they are ascertained. The California Spotted Owl Response Module, for example, is designed to provide information on treatment effects at both the individual site and population level scales in addressing numerous issues, including population density, trends, habitat suitability, reproduction and survival using radio telemetry and sampling techniques. SNFPA 3155. The 2004 Framework indicates that funds have been provided to execute a total of five modules that comprise this integrated research project, which significantly includes examination of effects not only on the owl but also on small mammal habitat associations (presumably including the fisher and marten) and vegetation response to fuel treatments in general. Id. In addition to using adaptive management strategies as a way of managing short-term impacts, the 2004 Framework also utilizes modeling projections to aid in a thorough assessment of such impacts. A comparative analysis was conducted on late-seral stage forest in the short term, including years 0 through 20. SNFPA 3326-3327. Through such projections, the Forest Service predicted that the amount of old forest is projected to increase across the bioregion in the short term, “despite treatments in approximately 14 percent of old forest emphasis areas.” SNFPA 2996, 3602. While the Forest Service’s use of modeling projections