October 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 55

consideration in an environmental impact
statement only if it would be reasonable
for the agency to conclude that the alternative does not bring about the ends of
the federal action. "
In this particular instance, the federal
appeals court noted " NPS's primary objective was to protect the native plants and
landscape of Valley Forge Park. " Further,
the court found NPS had " determined that
a deer density of 241 deer per square
mile had " direct and indirect negative impacts on plant and animal communities. "
Accordingly, the court concluded NPS
could require " any reasonable alternative would have to result in the reduction
of the deer population or in the prevention
of such a high density of deer from accessing the vegetation and landscape. "
Moreover, the court found that " the reintroduction of predators was dismissed as
a management option " because " coyotes
could not consistently control white-tailed
deer populations. " Specifically, the court
noted the " 1997 Coffey and Johnston study
cited by the NPS in the EIS [which had]
found that coyotes could not even 'consistently control' a white-tailed deer population, not to mention succeed in reducing
the deer population to target levels. " As a
result, the federal appeals court found the
NPS could properly reject " the option of
coyote predation " offered by FOA as an
alternative to the proposed deer hunt because it would not achieve the stated goal
of the proposed federal action.
On appeal, FOA argued further that
" the NPS never actually considered the
option of enhancing the coyote population because the EIS subchapter discussing coyotes was titled 'Reintroduction of
Predators,' and coyotes already existed
in Valley Forge Park. " Assuming NPS
had not considered enhancing the coyote population as an alternative, the court
found nonetheless that FOA had failed
to establish a violation of NEPA and the
CEQ regulations because " the available
evidence suggested that coyotes cannot
reduce the deer population. "
The NPS clearly researched, and rejected, the idea of reducing the deer
population through the use of

predators. It may have relied on only
one study. But with no evidence suggesting that an enhanced coyote
population could reduce the whitetailed deer population in Valley Forge
Park, and with evidence stating exactly
the contrary, the NPS did not err in

concluding that coyote predation was
not a reasonable alternative and did
not require further study.

In so doing, the federal appeals court
recognized " there is necessarily a limit to
the thoroughness with which an agency
can analyze every option. " Moreover, in

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& Recreation 53

October 2011 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2011 - Parks & Recreation