Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Society

In this case we must determine the operation of §318 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1990.

I

This case arises out of two challenges to the Federal Government’s continuing efforts to allow the harvesting and sale of timber from old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. These forests are home to the northern spotted owl, a bird listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U. S. C. § 1531 et seq. (1988 ed. and Supp. II), since June 1990. See 55 Fed. Reg. 26114. Harvesting the forests, say environmentalists, would kill the owls.…