Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM OPINION AMY BERMAN JACKSON, United States District Judge Plaintiffs the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, Carla Bowers, and Return to Freedom have brought this action against the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, Thomas J. Vilsack; the Chief of the United States Forest Service, Thomas Tidwell; and the Acting Director of the Modoc National Forest, Ann Carlson. Compl. [Dkt. # 1]. The case arises out of the Forest Service’s 2013 management plan for the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory (“WHT”). Id. The Devil’s Garden WHT is a wild horse territory located in the Modoc National Forest in California. Id. ¶ 1. Plaintiffs acknowledge that the territory consisted of two separate, non-contiguous parcels when it was established in 1975. Id. ¶ 39. However, they allege that at some point in the 1980s, the Forest Service adjusted the borders of the WHT to create a larger, unified territory, and that these more expansive borders were also recognized in a 1991 forest plan. Id. ¶¶ 39-40. In this lawsuit, they claim that the Forest Service acted improperly in 2013, when it adopted a new management plan which delineated the territory’s borders in accordance with the original 1975 layout and explained that any previous references to one contiguous territory were the result of “administrative error.” Id. ¶¶ 3-4, 48-49. The Forest Service also adjusted the territory’s minimum wild horse population threshold, called the appropriate management level (“AML”). Id. ¶¶ 5-6, 51-52. Plaintiffs allege that these decisions are contrary to multiple statutes and reflect arbitrary and capricious agency action in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2). Id. ¶¶ 58-91. Plaintiffs’ first set of challenges to the Forest Service’s actions are premised upon their assertion that the disputed 25,000-acre parcel — which lies between the two original non-contiguous portions of the Devil’s Garden WHT — was made an official part of the WHT at some point prior to 2013. In its 2013 environmental assessment, the Forest Service explained that any previous drawings or plans that appeared to incorporate the parcel — and unite the territory’s two non-contiguous halves — had done so in error. The Court does not find this action to have been unreasonable or unlawful. Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that the disputed parcel was ever formally incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT through the required public process or that it could have been. So they are unable to meet their burden to show that the record does not support the agency’s 2013 decision to correct and clarify the boundaries. With respect to the second issue raised in the complaint, the Forest Service has articulated a rational connection between the facts it found and its choice to broaden the AML range for the Devil’s Garden WHT. Thus, the Court finds that the challenged actions were not arbitrary and capricious or contrary to law, and it will grant defendants’ cross-motion for summary judgment. BACKGROUND The complaint recognizes that the Devil’s Garden WHT consisted of two separate, non-contiguous parcels, totaling an estimated 236,000 acres, when it was established in 1975. Compl. ¶ 39. Plaintiffs allege that at some point in the 1980s, the Forest Service adjusted the borders of the WHT to create one contiguous territory of roughly 258,000 acres. Id. Plaintiffs further claim that the Forest Service improperly revised those borders in 2013. Id. ¶¶ 3-4. They seek to vacate the Forest Service’s clarification of the territorial borders and its simultaneous adjustment of the AML as arbitrary and capricious under the APA, and on the grounds that the agency’s actions violated all of the applicable statutes. Id. ¶ 8. I. Statutory Framework Three statutory schemes control the Forest Service’s management of the Devil’s Garden WHT and form the basis for plaintiffs’ challenges to the decisions embodied in the 2013 environmental assessment and management plan: the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (“Wild Horses Act”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1331-1340, the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1600-1687, and the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321-4370. The Wild Horses Act, passed in 1971, states that wild horses and burros “shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.” 16 U.S.C. § 1331. The Act requires the Forest Service to “protect and manage” wild horse populations on lands under its administration in order to “achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance.” Id. § 1333(a). To manage the wild horses, the Forest Service has established wild horse and burro territories on “lands which were territorial habitat of wild free-roaming horses and/or burros at the time of the passage of the Act,” and it develops and maintains a “management plan” for each territory. 36 C.F.R. §§ 222.60(b)(15), 222.61(3) — (4). Each unit or subunit of a wild horse territory is assigned an appropriate management level, or AML, which represents the number of animals the territory can sustainably support. 16 U.S.C. § 1333(b)(1). The National Forest Management Act requires the Forest Service to “develop, maintain, and, as appropriate, revise” a Land and Resource Management Plan (herein, a “forest plan”) for all sections of the National Forest System. Id. § 1604(a). While a management plan under the Wild Horses Act applies to a specific wild horse and burro territory, a forest plan under the NFMA governs a particular unit of the National Forest System. The Forest Service may make nonsignificant amendments to a forest plan “in any manner whatsoever” after giving public notice. Id. § 1604(f)(4). However, significant amendments to a forest plan must undergo more extensive approval procedures and require greater public involvement. Id. The National Environmental Policy Act requires all federal agencies to analyze the impact of any agency action “significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.” 42 U.S.C. § 4332(C); see also 40 C.F.R. § 1508.27 (listing factors to be considered in reaching a determination of significance). Under NEPA, an agency must first prepare an environmental assessment (“EA”), which briefly discusses the environmental impacts of the proposed agency action and sets out “sufficient evidence and analysis for determining whether to prepare” one of two additional documents: an environmental impact statement (“EIS”) or a finding of no significant impact (“FONSI”). 40 C.F.R. §§ 1501.4(b), 1508.9. If the agency finds, on the basis of the EA, that the proposed action will have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment, it must prepare an EIS, which examines five factors relevant to the cumulative environmental impact of the action. 42 U.S.C. § 4332(C). If, however, the agency finds that the action does not significantly affect the environment, it need only prepare a FONSI setting forth the reasons “why an action ... will not have a significant effect on the human environment and for which an [EIS] therefore will not be prepared.” ' 40 C.F.R. § 1508.13; see also id. § 1501.4(b), (e). II. History of the Devil’s Garden WHT After the passage of the Wild Horses Act in 1971, the Forest Service established a wild horse territory at Devil’s Garden, a large, flat plateau located within the Mo-doc National Forest in northeastern California. See AR02969-70. The first formal Devil’s Garden WHT management plan was issued in 1975. AR02965-97 (the “1975 Management Plan”). It provided for a wild horse territory “broken into two large units which encompasses a gross acreage estimated at 236,000 acres.” AR02970-71. The two ranges were separated by a strip of land that was not incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT when it' was established. See, e.g., AR00157 (depicting the “1975 Wild Horse Territory”).- This strip, which the Court will refer to as the “disputed territory,” consisted of the Triangle Ranch and Avanzino Ranch grazing lands, some of which were privately-owned. See, e.g., AR00156 (“The Avanzino and Triangle private ranch lands which lay in between the West and East home ranges were not included in the WHT.”). It also included portions of the Carr, Big Sage, and Timbered Mountain livestock grazing allotments. See, e.g., AR03927 (showing boundaries of grazing allotments in red and boundaries of Devil’s Garden WHT in yellow). In 1976, the Forest Service acquired the Triangle Ranch lands through a land exchange and incorporated them into the Modoc National Forest. AR03965; AR03968. However, the Forest Service did not make the Triangle Ranch lands part of the Devil’s Garden WHT at that time. See AR03998 (1979 Decision Notice stating that “Triangle is not part of a designated horse management unit”). The Forest Service revised the Devil’s Garden WHT management plan in 1980, AR02949-64 (the “1980 Management Plan”), and again described the Devil’s Garden WHT as a territory “broken into two large units which encompasses a gross acreage estimated at 236,000 acres.” AR02953. In 1982, the Forest Service issued another management plan, AR02839-51 (the “1982 Management Plan”), which again characterized the Devil’s Garden WHT as a territory “broken into two large units which encompasses a gross acreage estimated at 236,000 acres.” AR02843. In 1991, the Forest Service revised the forest plan for Modoc National Forest. AR02838 (the “1991 Forest Plan”). It incorporated by reference all existing resource management plans that it found to be consistent with, and appropriate for, the 1991 Forest Plan, which included the existing Wild Horse Management Plan. Id. at 1-1. But this time, the 1991 Forest Plan stated that the Modoc National Forest “has one wild horse territory of about 258,-000 acres,” id. at 3-18, and it observed that “[u]nder the Wild Horses and Burros Act, the Forest is legally obligated to manage horses within [that] 258,000-acre wild horse territory.” Id. at 3-17. The plan included a statement that the Forest Service “prepared the Wild Horse Management Plan in 1985,” which had “identi-fie[d] a population objective of 275-335 animals to manage.” Id. at 3-18 to 3-19. In July 2011, the Forest Service issued a scoping notice, seeking comments on proposed updates to the existing Devil’s Garden WHT management plan, including an adjustment to the AML range of 275 to 335 animals established in the 1991 Forest Plan. AR03911-20. The scoping notice stated that the Devil’s Garden WHT “is approximately 268,750 acres in size,” AR03911, and it included a map depicting one contiguous territory. AR03919-20. In August 2012, the Forest Service entered into a cost-sharing agreement with the Modoc County Farm Bureau (“Farm Bureau”) for the development of the new Devil’s Garden WHT management plan. AR04700-23. The Farm Bureau agreed to collect, summarize, and evaluate all data, prepare the draft EA and the final EA, and provide support for any appeal. AR04713. The Forest Service was to supervise the Farm Bureau’s specialists, employ its own specialist to review the specialists’ reports, review and comment on the draft EA, and prepare the notice of decision and any finding of no significant impact. AR04714. The Forest Service issued another scoping notice in December 2012, AR03809, and attached a proposed action to that notice. AR03810-24 (the “Proposed Action”). In the Proposed Action, the Forest Service described the Devil’s Garden WHT as consisting of “approximately 232,520 acres of federal land.” AR03810. It also stated that “[t]he territory comprised West and East home ranges in the areas where it was known that wild free-roaming horses ranged in 1971,” and that “[t]he Avanzino and Triangle private ranch lands which lay in between the West and East home ranges were not included in the WHT.” AR03811. The Proposed Action also recognized that “[djuring the mid-1980’s, the [Forest Service] appears to have adjusted the WHT boundary for administrative convenience,” incorporating the disputed territory into the WHT, “including Triangle Ranch lands acquired in 1976 and the Avanzino Ranch (41 percent of which remains in private ownership).” Id. It stated that “[a]n administrative error was made in expanding the WHT beyond the herd’s known territorial limits,” and it added that the “[inclusion of the Triangle Ranch lands ... was clearly in error.” AR03812. The Forest Service therefore “propose[d] to return to the management of wild horses within the WHT boundary established in 1975,” which did not include the disputed territory. Id. The Proposed Action also included a proposal to amend the 1991 Forest Plan to remove the fixed AML range of 275 to 335 animals and to establish the AML range in the WHT management plan instead, which would be updated as necessary when wild horse population and resource monitoring data suggested the existing AML range was no longer appropriate. AR03815. Also in December 2012, the Forest Service released the Resource Monitoring Report for the Devil’s Garden WHT, AR00622-95, in which it again characterized the territory as consisting of two non-contiguous parcels. See AR00627 (discussing “the approximately 232,521 acre Devil’s Garden Plateau Wild Horse Territory” with map depicting two separate territories). One month later, in January 2013, the Forest Service published a report evaluating the monitoring data collected to establish a new AML range for the Devil’s Garden WHT. AR00542-621 (the “AML Evaluation”). This document also stated that the inclusion of the disputed territory in the Devil’s Garden WHT was the “result of an administrative error,” and it noted that “the AML was established as 0 wild horses” for the disputed territory. AR00547. The AML Evaluation went on to recommend an AML of 206 to 402 horses for the two-unit WHT, with an AML range of 105 to 183 horses on the Western portion and 101 to 219 horses on the Eastern portion. AR00552. In April 2013, the Forest Service released the draft EA for the proposed changes to the management of the Devil’s Garden WHT. AR03453-658 (the “Draft EA”). The Draft EA stated that the Devil’s Garden WHT “comprises approximately 232,520 acres of federal land,” AR03459, and like the Proposed Action, it recognized that the boundary of the Devil’s Garden WHT appeared to have been adjusted “for administrative convenience” during the 1980s as a result of “an administrative error.” AR03462; AR03465. It proposed “to return to the management of wild horses within the WHT boundary established in 1971.” AR03465. After a notice and comment period, in which plaintiffs participated, see AR03333-54, the Forest Service published its final EA in August 2013. AR00146-386 (the “Final EA”). The Final EA once again stated that the inclusion of the disputed territory in the Devil’s Garden WHT had been “[a]n administrative error,” and it described the total acreage of the Devil’s Garden WHT as 232,520 acres of federal land, and not the iarger 258,000 acres that would include the disputed territory. AR00154-59. It proposed establishing an AML of 206 to 402 wild horses for the Devil’s Garden WHT, and “return[ing] to the management of wild horses within the WHT boundary established in 1971.” AR00153; AR00159. The Final EA also responded to plaintiffs’ comments opposing the boundary correction, explaining that “the 1991 Forest Plan erroneously included” the disputed territory as within the boundaries of the Devil’s Garden WHT. AR00373-74. Incorporating the Final EA by reference, the Forest Service published its Decision Notice and FONSI in August 2013, AR00100-13 (“Decision Notice & FON-SI”), in which it found that the boundary correction and the AML adjustment would “not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment.” AR00106. It formally adopted the proposed action set forth in the Final EA, AR00100, which delineated the boundary of the Devil’s Garden WHT to be consistent with its original form, with two non-contiguous territories totaling approximately 232,520 acres, and which revised the AML range to 206 to 402 horses.. See AR00153; AR00159. Along with the Decision Notice and FON-SI, the Forest Service issued a new management plan, which incorporated the new AML range and adopted the territorial boundary as it was established in the 1975 Management Plan. AR00114-45 (the “2013 Management Plan”). III. Procedural History During the administrative process, plaintiffs the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (“AWHPC”) and Bowers provided comments on both scoping notices and the Draft EA. See AR00315; AR00318-19; AR00353-54. In October 2013, after the release of the Decision Notice and FONSI, the Final EA, and the 2013 Management Plan, plaintiffs AWHPC and Bowers filed a timely administrative appeal. AR00068-94. In January 2014, the Appeal Deciding Officer affirmed the Forest Service’s . actions. AR00001-03. This decision constituted the final administrative determination in this matter. AR00003. Plaintiffs initiated this action on March 24, 2014. Compl. They bring six claims against defendants, all under the APA. In Counts I, II, and III, plaintiffs allege that the boundary clarification was arbitrary and capricious because it violated the Wild Horses Act, the NFMA, ánd NEPA, and in Counts IV, V, and VI, they claim that the adjustment to the AML range was arbitrary and capricious because it was contrary to the same three statutes. Id. ¶¶ 58-91. Plaintiffs filed the instant motion for summary judgment on November 17, 2014. Pls.’ Mot. for Summ. J. [Dkt. # 20] (“Pis.’ Mot.”); Mem. in Supp. of Pis.’ Mot. [Dkt. #20] (“Pls.’ Mem.”). Defendants filed a cross-motion for summary judgment on January 12, 2015. Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J. [Dkt. #22] (“Defs.’ Mot.”); Mem. in Supp. of Defs.’ Mot. [Dkt. # 22] (“Defs.’ Mem.”). The same day, the intervenor-defendants — private landowners with land near the Devil’s Garden WHT and users of public land resources within the Modoc National Forest — filed their cross-motion for summary judgment. Intervenor-Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J. (“Intervenor-Defs.’ Mot.”) [Dkt. # 24]; Mem. in Supp. of In-tervenor-Defs.’ Mot. & in Opp. to Pis.’ Mot. (“Intervenor-Defs.’ Mem.”) [Dkt. # 24-1], All motions have been fully briefed. STANDARD OF REVIEW Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings and evidence show that “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and [that] the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). However, in cases involving review of agency- action under the APA, Rule 56 “does not apply because of the limited role of a court in reviewing the administrative record.” Select Specialty Hosp.-Akron, LLC v. Sebelius, 820 F.Supp.2d 13, 21 (D.D.C.2011). Under the APA, a court must “hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions” that are “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law,” in excess of statutory authority, or “without observance of procedure required by law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2). However, the scope of review is narrow. See Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n of U.S., Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856, 77 L.Ed.2d 443 (1983). The review is “[h]ighly deferential” and it “presumes the validity of agency action.” AT & T Corp. v. FCC, 220 F.3d 607, 616 (D.C.Cir.2000). A court must not “substitute its judgment for that of the agency.” State Farm, 463 U.S. at 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856. Thus, the action will be upheld if the agency “has considered the relevant factors and articulated a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made.” Nat’l Ass’n of Clean Air Agencies v. EPA, 489 F.3d 1221, 1228 (D.C.Cir.2007), quoting Allied Local & Reg’l Mfrs. Caucus v. EPA, 215 F.3d 61, 68 (D.C.Cir.2000). Agency action will be overturned only if: the .agency has relied on factors which Congress has not intended it to consider, entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem, offered an explanation for its decision that runs counter to the evidence before the agency, or is so implausible that it could not be ascribed to a difference in view or the product of agency expertise. State Farm, 463 U.S. at 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856. In reaching its decision, the agency may rely on comments submitted during the notice and comment period as justification for the action, so long as they are examined critically. See Nat’l Ass’n of Regulatory Util. Comm’rs v. FCC, 737 F.2d 1095, 1124 (D.C.Cir.1984). It “need not — indeed cannot — base its every action upon empirical data; depending upon the nature of the problem, an agency may be ‘entitled to conduct ... a general analysis based on informed conjecture.’ ” Chamber of Commerce of U.S. v. SEC, 412 F.3d 133, 142 (D.C.Cir.2005), quoting Melcher v. FCC, 134 F.3d 1143, 1158 (D.C.Cir.1998). ANALYSIS I. The Forest Service’s decision to correct the boundaries of the Devil’s Garden WHT was not arbitrary and capricious or in violation of the Wild Horses Act, the NFMA, or NEPA. In Count I, plaintiffs contend that-when the Forest Service corrected the boundaries of the Devil’s Garden WHT in the 2013 Management Plan, it disregarded the requirement in the Wild Horses Act that it protect and manage wild horses within the disputed territory. Compl. ¶¶ 58-63. In Count II, plaintiffs claim that the Forest Service violated the National Forest Management Act because it ignored a mandate in the 1991 Forest Plan that the Devil’s Garden WHT consist of one single, contiguous wild horse territory. Id. ¶¶ 64-68. And in Count III, plaintiffs allege that the Forest Service failed to analyze the environmental impact of eliminating the disputed territory in developing the 2013 EA and the FONSI, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. Id. ¶¶ 69-74. They argue that the Forest Service’s failure to comply with these statutes renders the 2013 decision to clarify the boundaries of the Devil’s Garden WHT invalid under the APA. But all of these counts presuppose that the disputed territory was in fact incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT at some point during the 1980s, or in the 1991 Forest Plan. This premise fails for two reasons, and in sections I.A.l and I.A.2 below, the Court will take up this defect that is fatal to each of plaintiffs’ three claims, before addressing the specific statutory claims individually in sections I.B, I.C, and I.D. First, as will be set out in more detail in section I.A.1, plaintiffs can point to nothing in the Administrative Record showing that an actual incorporation ever took place. No formal process was invoked, and there is no record of any official decision. To the extent that the 1980 Map or the 1991 Forest Plan did refer to a single, contiguous WHT that incorporated the disputed territory, there is nothing in the record that casts doubt on defendants’ explanation that this was the result of an “administrative error” and that it did not affect the actual management of the Devil’s Garden WHT. Second, as discussed in section I.A.2, it would not have been legally proper or possible to subsume the disputed central parcel into the Devil’s Garden WHT and create a unified whole, because a significant portion of the disputed territory was, and remains, privately owned, and the Forest Service determined that it was not the territorial habitat of wild horses at the time the Wild Horses Act was passed. So the land could not lawfully have been deemed to be a part of the wild horse territory under the applicable statutes. For these reasons, the Court finds that it was not arbitrary and capricious for the Forest Service to address the administrative error in the 2013 ÉA and Management Plan, and it finds that the boundary correction was not contrary to any of the three statutes or the APA. In other words, in the absence of any indication that the creation of a map that failed to exclude the parcel in the 1980s, or the use of those boundaries in a forest plan in the 1990s, was the product of a deliberate decision to expand and unify the territory, it was reasonable for the agency entrusted with these matters to conclude that a mistake had been made that needed to be rectified. Therefore, defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment on Counts I, II, and III will be granted. A. The Forest Service reasonably concluded that the disputed territory was never formally incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT and that any reference to a single, contiguous territory was the result of an administrative error. Plaintiffs concede that the disputed territory was not part of the Devil’s Garden WHT when it was first created in 1975. Compl. ¶ 39; Pls.’ Mem. at 5; see also AR00157. However, they claim that “[t]he Forest Service acted quickly to incorporate the [disputed territory] into the WHT,” and that “[a]t some point in the early 1980s, the Forest Service formally modified the boundary of the WHT to include the newly acquired public lands as well as existing public lands in one contiguous WHT.” Pis.’ Mem. at 5-6. Plaintiffs acknowledge, as they must, that they cannot identify any document in the Administrative Record that memorializes such an action or shows exactly when or how the alleged incorporation took place. See id. at 6 n.2 (“While the exact date of the change is not known, it appears to have occurred sometime in the early 1980s.”). They rely on a 1980 map and the 1991 Forest Plan to support their claim that the disputed territory was incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT “at some point in the early 1980s.” Id. at 5-6, 9-10. But the Court is not authorized to undertake its own investigation into whether the disputed territory was in fact made part of the Devil’s Garden WHT at any point during the relevant time period. Instead, the Court is limited to reviewing the Forest Service’s conclusion that the references to a single, contiguous wild horse territory were the result of “[a]n administrative error,” see AR00159, and determining whether that 2013 conclusion was consistent with the evidence before the agency at the time the decision was made. The Court finds that it was. 1. The Forest Service’s conclusion that the references to a single, contiguous territory were the result of an administrative error is not counter to the record evidence. The Court begins with the 1980 map, which was included as part of the 2013 EA and does not appear separately in the record. See AR00158 (the “1980 Map”). Although the 1980 Map itself is not dated, it is captioned within the 2013 EA as “Figure 2: 1980 Wild Horse Territory.” Id. Plaintiffs contend that it shows that “[a]t some point in the early 1980s, the Forest Service formally modified the boundary of the WHT to include the newly acquired public lands as well as existing public lands in one contiguous WHT.” Pis.’ Mem. at 5-6. The Forest Service disputes this. The 2013 EA stated that at some point in the mid-1980s, the Forest Service “appears to have adjusted the WHT boundary for administrative convenience,” referring to the 1980 Map. AR00156. It added, though, that “[a]n administrative error was made in expanding the WHT beyond the herd’s known territorial limits,” and it noted that the “[ijnclusion of the Triangle Ranch lands ... was clearly in error.” AR00159. Defendants now further explain that the 1980 Map was created “[t]o keep track of wild horses roaming outside of the territory in the 1980s.” Defs.’ Mem. at 11. They state that the 1980 Map was designed to enable the Forest Service “to administratively manage horses that had exceeded the actual Territory boundaries,” Reply in Supp. of Defs.’ Mot. [Dkt. # 27] (“Defs.’ Reply”) at 4, and so, it “depicted the general location of these horses” across “a continuous area,” “includ[ing] non-territory lands and significant private lands ... where horses had been observed in the 1980s.” Defs.’ Mem. at 11-12. Thus, defendants contend, “the inclusion of [the disputed territory] in the 1980s map was for administrative convenience and did not formally change the territory boundary established in 1975.” Defs.’ Reply at 11; see also Defs.’ Mem. at 12 (“This map was not approved in any wild horse territory plan.”). The Court finds the Forest Service’s explanation of the origin of the 1980 Map and its statement that the disputed territory was included in the map for “administrative convenience” to be reasonable and consistent with record evidence. At a minimum, the 1980 Map certainly does not show, as plaintiffs claim, that “[a]t some point in the early 1980s, the Forest Service formally modified the boundary of the WHT” to include the disputed territory. See Pis.’ Mem. at 5. And there are no other records that reflect any “formal” process at all. Indeed, the Forest Service could not have amended an existing management ' plan solely by creating a map changing the borders of the Devil’s Garden WHT — the Wild Horses Act and the NFMA require the creation of a management plan or a forest plan to direct the management of a wild horse or forest territory. See 16 U.S.C. § 1604(a); 36 C.F.R. § 222.61(a)(4). And plaintiffs cannot point to any formal plan implementing a territorial change. In addition, the 1980 Map is inconsistent not only with the ownership of the land, which will be discussed in section I.A.2 below, but also with the management plans that were in existence around the time it was created. • While the 1980 Map depicts one contiguous horse range which includes the disputed territory, both the 1980 Management Plan and the 1982 Management Plan unequivocally refer to the Devil’s Garden WHT as a territory “broken into two large units which encompasses a gross acreage estimated at 236,000 acres.” Compare AR00158 (the 1980 Map) with AR02953 (the 1980 Management Plan) and AR02843 (the 1982 Management Plan). The Administrative Record also contains a map prepared in connection with an April 1990 wild horse inventory that depicts the WHT in a two-part configuration, with the disputed territory excluded. AR03934-35. In other words, well after the time that plaintiffs contend that the 1980 Map shows that the. Forest Service officially expanded the Devil’s Garden WHT, the Forest Service continued to treat the territory as consisting of two separate and non-contiguous ranges which did not include the disputed territory. Thus, the Court finds that it was not arbitrary and capricious for the Forest Service to determine that the 1980 Map was created for “administrative convenience” and that it does not reflect a formal adjustment of the boundaries of the WHT. Plaintiffs also rely on the 1991 Forest Plan in support of their claim that the disputed territory was incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT in the 1980s. Pis.’ Mem. at 9-10, 36-38. While the 1991 Forest Plan does refer to the WHT as a contiguous whole, the Forest Service explained in the 2013 EA that “[a]n administrative error was made in expanding the WHT beyond the herd’s known territorial limits,” and it added that the “[i]nclusion of the Triangle Ranch lands (which were not acquired by the Forest Service until 1976, nearly five years after the 1971 [Wild Horses Act] passed),” and the inclusion of the Avanzino Ranch lands, of which 41 percent remained privately owned, “was clearly in error.” AR00156; AR00159. It further emphasized that “an AML was not established for the added lands and few, if any, wild horses were found there.” AR00156; AR00159. Defendants now reiterate that the 1991 Forest Plan’s reference to a single, contiguous wild horse territory was “clearly an error as the Forest Service never designated or managed this non-territory for wild horses.” Defs.’ Mem. at 1-2. The Court finds the Forest Service’s explanation of the administrative error and its conclusion that the 1991 Forest Plan does not demonstrate that the disputed territory was ever formally incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT to be reasonable and consistent with the record evidence. The 1991 Forest Plan referred twice to a single, contiguous, 258,000-acre wild horse territory. See 1991 Forest Plan at 3-17 (“[T]he Forest is legally obligated to manage horses within a 258,000-acre wild horse territory.”); id. at 3-18 (“[T]he Forest has one wild horse territory of about 258,000 acres.”). But it does not contain any map of the Devil’s Garden WHT, let alone a map depicting one contiguous territory, that could provide a source for that acreage figure. And more importantly, the plan is internally inconsistent in referring to the boundaries and acreage of the Devil’s Garden WHT. For example, the 1991 Forest Plan stated that it “will supersede most previous Forest resource management plans.” Id. at 1-1. But it then noted that “[a]ll existing resource management plans were re-examined by the Forest’s interdisciplinary planning team,” and it stated that the planning team found the “Wild Horse Management Plan” to be “consistent with, and still appropriate for, the Forest Plan.” Id. Thus, the 1991 Forest Plan stated that it “incorporated by reference” the existing wild horse management plan. Id. And that plan — the 1982 Management Plan— referred unambiguously to a territory “broken into two large units which encompasses a gross acreage estimated at 236,-000 acres.” In other words, the 1991 Forest Plan referred to a contiguous 258,000 acre horse territory while simultaneously incorporating a management plan that provided for a non-contiguous, two-part horse territory of 236,000 acres as “consistent with, and still appropriate for, the Forest Plan.” 1991 Forest Plan at 1-1. This internal inconsistency undermines plaintiffs’ insistence that the 1991 Forest Plan recognized that the disputed territory was added to the Devil’s Garden WHT “[a]t some point in the early 1980s,” Pis.’ Mem. at 5, and it belies the notion that the 1991 Forest Plan was the document through which a formal incorporation was effectuated. There is additional evidence in the record supporting the Forest Service’s conclusion that the reference in the 1991 Forest Plan was an administrative error, and that evidence contradicts plaintiffs’ assertion that “the Forest Service managed the WHT as a single, contiguous 258,000-acre protected area from roughly 1980 to 2013.” See Pis.’ Mem. at 1. The record reflects that “an AML was not established” for the disputed territory in thé 1991 Forest Plan. AR00156; see also AR00547 (2013 AML Evaluation noting that “[although the Triangle and Avanzino Ranch lands were in-eluded in the WHT boundary in the Forest Plan as a result of an administrative error, the AML was established as 0 wild horses for the two areas”). That means that no wild horses were intended to reside there, even at the time plaintiffs contend that it was part of the WHT. And the management level for the disputed territory remained at zero throughout the relevant period. For example, two wild horse inventories from 2002 and 2010 demonstrate that the designated management herd minimum size for the Avanzino grazing allotment — which falls completely and exclusively within the disputed territory, see AR03927—was set at zero. AR04323; AR04325. Consistent with its conclusion that the disputed territory was never properly incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT, the Forest Service removed horses from the disputed territory throughout the relevant period. See AR00255 (table showing number of animals gathered between 2003 and 2013 from grazing allotments that overlap with the disputed territory, including Timbered Mountain, Big Sage, Carr, Triangle, and Boles); AR03933 (1990 recommendation that wild horses be captured and removed from Boles Meadow). In other words, well after plaintiffs contend that the disputed territory was incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT, and despite the reference in the 1991 Forest Plan to a single, contiguous wild horse territory, the Forest Service was removing horses from the disputed territory and treating it as distinct from the Devil’s Garden WHT. Thus, the Court finds that the Forest Service’s conclusion that any references to a single WHT were the result of administrative error was reasonable and consistent with the evidence before the agency. 2. The disputed territory could not have been properly incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT. As further support for their position, defendants argue that the disputed territory could not have been properly incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT in any event. See Defs.’ Mem. at 2, 19-22; see also Intervenor-Defs.’ Mem. at 8-11, 13-14. The Court agrees. The implementing regulations for the Wild Horses Act define “[w]ild horse and burro territory” as “lands of the National Forest System which are identified ... as lands which were territorial habitat of wild free-roaming horses and/or burros at the time of the passage of the Act.” 36 C.F.R. § 222.60(b)(15) (emphasis added). The Forest Service has interpreted this to mean that only public lands that were home to wild horses at the time of the passage of the Act in December 1971 could qualify for inclusion in a wild horse territory. See AR00159 (concluding that under the Wild Horses Act, the Forest Service’s authority to direct “the management of wild horses and burros is limited to the areas where wild horses and burros were found in 1971”), citing 36 C.F.R. § 222.60(b)(13); see also 36 C.F.R. § 222.60(b)(14) (‘Wild-horse and burro range means an area of National Forest System specifically so designated ... for the purpose of sustaining an existing herd or herds of wild free-roaming horses and burros, provided the range does not exceed known territorial limits.... ”). At the time of the passage of the Wild Horses Act, significant portions of the disputed territory were privately held and would not have qualified for inclusion in the WHT. For example, the Triangle Ranch lands were privately owned until 1976, when the Forest Service acquired them in a land exchange, AR03965, and as plaintiffs acknowledge, approximately 41 percent of the Avanzino Ranch lands were privately held in 1971 and remain privately held to this day. Pis.’ Mem. at 7, citing AR00156. Thus, these lands are disqualified from inclusion' in the Devil’s Garden WHT as a matter of law, since the Forest Service can only designate public lands— “lands of the National Forest System” — as wild horse and burro territory. See 36 C.F.R. § 222.60(b)(15). Furthermore, the disputed territory does not consist of “lands which were the territorial habitat of wild free-roaming horses and/or burros at the time of the passage of the Act.” Id. The 1975 Management Plan did not include the disputed territory as part of the Devil’s Garden WHT, and neither did the 1980 or 1982 Management Plans. See AR02965-97; AR02949-64; AR02839-51. And the 2013 EA notes that the 1975 Management Plan recognized that “the Avanzino and Triangle Ranch lands were specifically excluded” from the Devil’s Garden WHT because “[l]ittle or no use by wild horses of these areas occurred during this time due to the number of fences and the ongoing livestock operations on this privately owned land.” AR00373; see also AR03995 (map showing boundary fences in the disputed territory in 1979). In other words, at the time the Devil’s Garden WHT was established, the Forest Service concluded that the disputed territory did not qualify as the territorial habitat of wild free-roaming horses. Plaintiffs contend the disputed territory “is, and always has been, prime wild horse habitat.” Pls.’ Mem. at 27. In support, they rely on the testimony of Marla Bennett, an employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with experience studying and gathering wild horses on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. Id. at 10-11, citing AR04131-38; see also Reply in Supp. of Pis.’ Mot. [Dkt. #25] (“Pis.’ Reply”) at 18-20. Bennett concluded that wild horses likely would have used the disputed territory for grazing and migratory behaviors at the time the Wild Horses Act was passed. AR04136-37. But unlike the Forest Service employees who drafted and implemented the original 1975 Management Plan near the time of the passage of the Wild Horses Act, Bennett based her conclusion on visits to the disputed territory decades after the Act was passed and her observation of two recent wild horse gathers on the Devil’s Garden WHT. See AR04131-32. The Court finds that this testimony is of little use in answering the question of whether the disputed territory was the “territorial habitat of wild free-roaming horses and/or burros at the time of the passage of the Act." 36 C.F.R. § 222.60(b)(15) (emphasis added). In any event, “an agency must have discretion to rely on the reasonable opinions of its own qualified experts,” Marsh v. Or. Nat. Res. Council, 490 U.S. 360, 378, 109 S.Ct. 1851, 104 L.Ed.2d 377 (1989), and the Forest Service’s determination in 1975 that the disputed territory was not a territorial habitat of wild horses is entitled to deference. Based on all of these facts and circumstances, the Court finds that the Forest Service has articulated a rational connection between its finding that the references in the 1980 Map and the 1991 Forest Plan to a single, contiguous 258,000-acre territory were the result of administrative error, and its choice in the 2013 EA and the 2013 Management Plan to specify that the correct boundaries of the Devil’s Garden WHT are those first established for the territory in 1975. As discussed below, this finding is fatal to plaintiffs’ first three challenges under the APA. B. The Forest Service reasonably determined that it was under no obligation to manage wild horses outside the Devil’s Garden WHT. In Count I, plaintiffs contend that the Forest Service violated the Wild Horses Act by failing to protect and manage wild horses as “integral components” of the disputed territory, by conducting management activities within the disputed territory above the “minimal feasible level,” and by declining to continue the recognition of the disputed territory as a wild horse territory. Pis.’ Mem. at 25-29. Since the Court finds that the Forest Service reasonably concluded that the disputed territory was never formally incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT, it follows that the Forest Service was not required to manage wild horses on, or to treat them as integral components of, the disputed territory. Further, the Forest Service was not obligated to conduct management activities within the disputed territory “at the minimal feasible level.” See 16 U.S.C. § 1333(a). Plaintiffs contend that “the Forest Service seeks to permanently abandon its responsibility to manage the [disputed territory] as part of the WHT” and “permanently remove the protected status” from the disputed territory. Pis.’ Mem. at 28. But if the disputed territory was never formally incorporated into the Devil’s Garden WHT in the first place, the Forest Service was not required to manage the territory as such, and it did not have a duty to treat the disputed territory as a protected area. And finally, the Forest Service was not obligated to continue recognition of the disputed territory as a wild horse habitat, since the Forest Service never formally established it as a wild horse territory and it never determined that wild horses were “part of the natural system” in that area. See 36 C.F.R. § 222.61(a)(3) (requiring the Forest Service to “[establish wild horse and burro territories in accordance with the Act and continue recognition of such territories where it is determined that horses and/or burros will be recognized as part of the natural system”). For those reasons, the Court finds that the Forest Service did not violate the Wild Horses Act when it corrected the boundaries of the Devil’s Garden WHT in the 2013 EA and the 2013 Management Plan, and defendants are therefore entitled to summary judgment on Count I. C. The Forest Service reasonably determined the boundary adjustment was not a “significant” amendment under the NFMA. The National Forest Management Act states that “instruments for the use and occupancy of National Forest System lands shall be consistent with” forest plans developed for the same area. 16 U.S.C. § 1604(i). Plaintiffs contend that the 2013 EA and the 2013 Management Plan are inconsistent with the 1991 Forest Plan because -they ignore its mandate that the Devil’s Garden WHT be managed as a single, contiguous 258,000-acre horse territory. Pis.’ Mem. at 36-38. Further, because plaintiffs claim that the purported elimination of the disputed territory from the Devil’s Garden WHT was a “significant” change in the management of the territory, they allege that the Forest Service was required to go through the formal NFMA process to amend the 1991 Forest Plan, which it failed to do. Id. Under the NFMA, the Forest Service is permitted to make non-significant amendments to the Forest Plan “in any manner whatsoever after final adoption after public notice,” while significant amendments require a lengthier and more involved public approval process. 16 U.S.C. § 1604(f)(4). An agency may rely on its own regulations for guidance in determining whether an action is significant. See, e.g., Hammond v. Norton, 370 F.Supp.2d 226, 262-63 (D.D.C.2005). The Forest Service Manual states that an amendment to a forest plan is significant if it would “significantly alter the long-term relationship between levels of multiple-use goods,” or “have an important effect on the entire [forest] plan.” AR00162. As for a boundary adjustment, an amendment is not significant if it does not cause “significant changes in the multiple-use goals and objectives for long-term land and resource management.” Id. In the 2013 EA, the Forest Service examined whether the proposed boundary-correction would constitute a significant amendment, and it reached the following conclusion: The proposed amendment which would manage wild horses within the territorial limits established in the 1975 Wild Horse Management Plan would not alter the multiple-use goals and objectives of the Forest Plan. Appropriate management of wild horses to meet the goals and objectives identified in the Forest Plan would occur. The proposed change would bring the Forest Plan into alignment with the 1971 [Wild Horses Act] and would not be NFMA significant. Id. The Court finds that this conclusion was reasonable. It has already determined that the Forest Service was managing the Devil’s Garden WHT consistently with the 1982 Management Plan, which provided for a territory “broken into two large units which encompasses a gross acreage estimated at 236,000 acres,” AR02843, that it had established an AML of zero for the disputed territory, AR00547, and that it was removing wild horses from the disputed territory during the relevant time period, even after the adoption of the 1991 Forest Plan. See AR00255 (table showing number of horses gathered between 2003 and 2013 from grazing allotments that overlap with the disputed territory, including Timbered Mountain, Big Sage, Carr, Triangle, and Boles). Thus, the Court finds that it was reasonable for the Forest Service to determine that correcting the boundary description would not result in a significant change in the goals for and use of the Devil’s Garden WHT, and that it was not required to amend the Forest Plan or go through the more rigorous public-approval process. Accordingly, the Court finds that the Forest Service complied with the NFMA, and defendants are entitled to summary judgment on Count II. D. The Forest Service complied with NEPA, and its decision-making process was not tainted by the involvement of the Farm Bureau. The National Environmental Policy Act “requires that all ‘proposals for major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the environment must be accompanied by a detailed discussion of the reasonably foreseeable effects on the environment of reasonable alternative courses of action.’ ” Hammond, 370 F.Supp.2d at 239, quoting Taxpayers Watchdog v. Stanley, 819 F.2d 294, 298 (D.C.Cir.1987). “This requirement is ‘essentially procedural’; as long as the agency’s decision is ‘fully informed’ and ‘well-considered,’ it is entitled to judicial deference.” Id. at 239-40, quoting Nat. Res. Def. Council v. Hodel, 865 F.2d 288, 294 (D.C.Cir.1988). Plaintiffs challenge the boundary correction under NEPA on two separate grounds. First, they allege that the 2013 EA does not adequately analyze the environmental impact of eliminating the disputed territory from the Devil’s Garden WHT, and thus, the Forest Service’s decision to issue a FONSI instead of an EIS was improper. Pis.’ Mem. at 29-33. And second, they contend that the involvement of the Farm Bureau in the NEPA process tainted the outcome. Id. 31-34; Pis.’ Reply at 26-29. The Court finds that neither argument is persuasive. 1. The Forest Service reasonably determined that the boundary correction would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment under NEPA. Plaintiffs argue that the 2013 EA “contains no analysis as to the basis for eliminating” the disputed territory and “does not even purport to assess the environmental impacts” caused by that removal. Pis.’ Mem. at 30. Thus, they contend that the Forest Service’s issuance of a FONSI, instead of an EIS, was improper. Id. at 33-35. The D.C Circuit has identified the following criteria for a court reviewing an agency’s decision to forego the preparation of an EIS: First, the agency must have accurately identified the relevant environmental concern. Second, once the agency has identified the problem it must have taken a “hard look” at the problem in preparing the EA. Third, if a finding of no significant impact is made, the agency must be able to make a convincing case for its finding. Sierra Club v. U.S. Dep’t of Transp., 753 F.2d 120, 127 (D.C.Cir.1985). The Court finds that the Forest Service complied with these requirements and with NEPA, and that its decision to issue a FONSI instead of an EIS with regard to the 2013 boundary correction was reasonable. First, the Forest Service examined the relevant environmental concern with respect to the border adjustment — the potential impact on wild horses living in the Devil’s Garden WHT — and second, it took the necessary “hard look” at the issue while preparing the EA. See AR00252-83 (examining “affected environment” and “environmental impacts” of the various alternatives proposed in the 2013 EA on- the wild horse population); see also AR00171 (explaining that the amendment “[ejstab-lish[es] a boundary for the WHT based on the long-term needs of the Devil[’]s Garden wild horse herd and within the herd’s known territorial limits”). In light of its finding that the boundary adjustment simply corrected an administrative error and resulted in the continued management of the disputed territory as distinct from the Devil’s Garden WHT, the Court finds that the Forest Service made a convincing case for its determination that “this amendment has no effect on wild horses or their habitat.” AR00271. “[Fjederal agencies have discretion to decide whether a proposed action is significant enough to warrant preparation of an EIS.... ” Grand Canyon Trust v. FAA, 290 F.3d 339, 341-42 (D.C.Cir.2002) (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, the Forest Service reasonably determined that correcting the references to the boundaries of the Devil’s Garden WHT would not have any significant environmental impact, because the management of the Devil’s Garden WHT would remain the same and because no territory was actually being removed from the wild horse range. Plaintiffs’ disagreement with the Forest Service’s decision is not sufficient grounds for this Court to find that its action was arbitrary and capricious or in violation of NEPA. See, e.g., Found. on Econ. Trends v. Lyng, 817 F.2d 882, 886 (D.C.Cir.1987) (“[T]he political process, and not NEPA, provides the appropriate forum in which to air policy disagreements.”), quoting Metro. Edison Co. v. People Against Nuclear Energy, 460 U.S. 766, 777, 103 S.Ct. 1556, 75 L.Ed.2d 534 (1983). 2. Plaintiffs fail to show that the NEPA analysis was predetermined or tainted by a conflict of interest due to the Farm Bureau’s involvement. Plaintiffs also allege that the results of the NEPA analysis and the decision to eliminate the disputed territory from the Devil’s Garden WHT were predetermined and tainted by the Farm Bureau’s involvement, and that the Forest Service’s decision should therefore be vacated. Pls.’ Mem. at 31-34; see also id. at 12-13. They contend that “[o]nce the Farm Bureau signed on ... the Forest Service immediately reversed itself’ on whether the disputed territory was part of the Devil’s Garden WHT, and that it contracted “with the Farm Bureau to prepare a FON-SI before the NEPA process had even started.” Pis.’ Reply at 27. The standard for proving that a NEPA outcome was predetermined is high: “predetermination occurs only when an agency irreversibly and irretrievably commits itself to a plan of action that is dependent upon the NEPA environmental analysis producing a certain outcome.” Flaherty v. Bryson, 850 F.Supp.2d 38, 70 (D.D.C.2012), quoting Forest Guardians v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv., 611 F.3d 692, 714 (10th Cir.2010); see also Air Transp. Ass’n of Am., Inc. v. Nat’l Mediation Bd., 663 F.3d 476, 488 (D.C.Cir.2011) (“[A]n individual should be disqualified from rule-making only when there has been a clear and convincing showing that the ... member has an unalterably closed mind on matters critical to the disposition of the proceeding.”), quoting C & W Fish Co., Inc. v. Fox, 931 F.2d 1556, 1564 (D.C.Cir.1991). “An agency can have a preferred alternative in mind when it conducts a NEPA analysis.” Forest Guardians, 611 F.3d at 712, citing 40 C.F.R. § 1502.14(e); see also Comm. of 100 on Fed. City v. Foxx, 87 F.Supp.3d 191, 206 (D.D.C.2015) (“Bias towards a preferred outcome does not violate NEPA so long as it does not prevent full and frank consideration of environmental concerns.”), citing NRDC v. Nuclear Regulatory Comm’n, 547 F.2d 633, 659 n. 5 (D.C.Cir.1976) (Tamm, J., concurring). “The test of compliance ... then, is one of good faith objectivity rather than subjective impartiality.” Forest Guardians, 611 F.3d at 712, quoting Envtl. Def. Fund, Inc. v. Corps of Eng’rs of U.S. Army, 470 F.2d 289, 296 (8th Cir.1972). Plaintiffs contend that the Forest Service’s contract with the Farm Bureau shows that the Forest Service agreed that it would prepare a FONSI, instead of an EIS, before the NEPA process had even started, meaning that the Forest Service preemptively determined that there would be no significant environmental impact from the boundary correction before engaging in the required analysis. Pis.’ Reply at 27, citing AR04714. The contract, signed in August of 2012, does state that the Forest Service shall “Prepare Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact — summer 2013.” AR04714. However, it also shows that the Forest Service was obligated to review the Farm Bureau’s specialists’ reports, review the draft EA and post the final EA, and employ its own decision maker prior to preparing the decision notice and FONSI. Id. Each of these steps in the process would have provided the Forest Service with an independent opportunity to reevaluate whether a FONSI was proper or whether an EIS was required instead. Cf. Davis v. Mineta, 302 F.3d 1104, 1113 (10th Cir.2002) (finding that agency “failed to conduct a sufficient independent review of [the contractor’s] work to insulate itself from the biases toward a FONSI reflected in [the contractor’s] draft EA”). Thus, without more, the Court does not find that this one line in the contract shows that the Forest Service “irreversibly and irretrievably” committed itself to issuing a FONSI instead of an EIS prior to completing the required NEPA analysis. In addition to their predetermination claim, plaintiffs allege that the involvement of the Farm Bureau represented a conflict of interest that so compromised the NEPA process that the 2013 EA and FONSI should be invalidated. Pis.’ Mem. at 32; Pis.’ Reply at 27-29. Specifically, plaintiffs complain that “[t]he Farm Bureau has an inexorable conflict of interest relating to the outcome of the boundary modification (and the AML reduction), due to the grazing permits held by its members, who freely admit having vested financial interests adverse to wild horses' in the WHT.” Pis.’ Mem. at 32. In assessing whether a conflict of interest should invalidate the results of a NEPA analysis, the ultimate question is whether the “objectivity and integrity of the NEPA process” has been compromised. Ass’ns Working for Aurora’s Residential Env’t v. Colo. Dep’t of Transp., 153 F.3d 1122, 1129 (10th Cir.1998), quoting Citizens Against Burlington, Inc. v. Busey, 938 F.2d 190, 202 (D.C.Cir.1991). Agency oversight of the contractor’s work and independent review procedures can mitigate the potential influence that may arise from a conflict of interest. See id. (finding that “the degree of supervision exercised by [the agency] protected the integrity and objectivity” of the NEPA process where the agency “independently and extensively reviewed all of the Contractor’s analyses, commented on the Contractor’s field data and written product, noted deficiencies in the data and analysis, gave direction to the Contractor’s work, and frequently required the Contractor to gather more facts or perform supplemental analysis on aspects of the project”). For many of the same reasons discussed above, the Court finds that the “objectivity and integrity of the NEPA process” was not tainted by the involvement of the Farm Bureau in the preparation of the draft and final EA. As the parties’ contract indicates, while the Farm Bureau was responsible for collecting, evaluating, and summarizing data, preparing specialist reports, providing a draft EA, submitting the draft EA for public comment, and finalizing the EA, see AR04713, the Forest Service employed its own specialist to review the Farm Bureau’s specialists’ reports, reviewed and commented on the draft EA, employed its own decision maker, and imposed “quality control” for “NEPA compliance” throughout this process. AR04714. As in the Aurora case, the “degree of supervision exercised” by the Forest Service here indicates that any conflict of interest posed by the Farm Bureau was properly minimized. See 153 F.3d at 1129. Other than general speculation about the motives the Farm Bureau’s members based on their alleged “vested financial interests adverse to wild horses,” Pls.’ Mem. at 32, plaintiffs do not offer any evidence to show that the Forest Service’s review of the Farm Bureau’s specialists’ reports and draft EA was in any way tainted, or that there was an “agreement, enforceable promise or guarantee of future work” that would give rise to a conflict of interest. Aurora, 153 F.3d at 1128. They have not “pointed to any inaccuracies” in the draft or final’ EA, but have “merely speculated” that the Farm Bureau’s involvement was improper “due to the interests of the proponents.” See Nat’l Wildlife Fed’n v. FERC, 912 F.2d 1471, 1485 (D.C.Cir.1990). “Such a speculation, with-' out more, is insufficient to undermine the [Forest Service’s] independent determination” that a FONSI was the appropriate approach under NEPA. See id. at 1485-86 (rejecting challenge to agency’s reliance on data provided by an engineering firm with a purported conflict of interest, where the plaintiff “merely speculated” that the data was unreliable “due to the interests of the proponents of the evidence”). Moreover, all of plaintiffs’ claim about the Bureau’s vested interest in eliminating the Forest Service’s management of the wild horses in the dispu