Organized Village of Kake v. United States Department of Agriculture

In an en banc rehearing, the Ninth Circuit, in Organized Village of Kake v. United States Department of Agriculture, determined that the Roadless Rule should apply to the largest National Forest, the Alaskan Tongass. The significant socioeconomic impacts on Southeast Alaska contrasted with important environmental roadless values make the management of the Tongass National Forest unique and controversial. The Ninth Circuit concluded that Alaska, an intervener, had standing to appeal and that the 2003 Tongass Exception to the Roadless Rule was arbitrary and capricious.