MCEA joined the Sierra Club and Northeast Minnesotans for Wilderness in filing a federal lawsuit challenging the Forest Service's Travel Management Plan for the Superior National Forest.

MCEA is concerned that the travel management plan will result in increased off-highway vehicle traffic in the Superior Forest.  Under the plan, some areas of the Forest will receive much more traffic than others. Some of that increased traffic will be directly adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The suit alleges a number of legal defects, including that the Forest Service failed to adequately study the Plan’s impact on the Boundary Waters and the habitat of Canadian Lynx. 

Oral argument was held in October 2011. In April 2012, Honorable Judge Nelson ruled in favor of defendants, stating the U.S. Forest Service's decision to implement the Travel Management Plan was not arbitrary or capricious.

MCEA Documents

Amended Complaint

Media

Judge backs Superior Forest ATV plan, Duluth News Tribune, April 18, 2012

Redrawn ATV routes OK'd for Superior National Forest, Star Tribune, April 15, 2012