NINTH CIRCUIT ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW EDITOR'S NOTE.

• Author: Laird, Anna

The 2020-2021 Ninth Circuit Environmental Review provides summaries of twenty-seven cases issued hy the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit between January and December 2020. Each summarized opinion concerns cases and questions of law relating to natural resources, energy, the environment, and tribal rights. Additionally, it features two chapters authored by Ninth Circuit Review members, each of which discuss important topics rooted in the impacts of recent cases from the Ninth Circuit.

In the first chapter, Dara Illowsky addresses the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the ever-increasing severity of wildfires in the western United States and proposes the federal government use the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as a tool to implement tangible and effective requirements to achieve healthy forest management practices. In this discussion, this chapter looks at the Ninth Circuit case Bark v. United States Forest Service and proposes that the Biden Administration revive and update NEPA regulations rescinded under the Trump and Obama Administrations, focusing on the incorporation of greenhouse gas emission impacts and tribal and public involvement in forest management decisions. This chapter provides timely, intuitive suggestions on how to move forest management practices forward to meet the challenges of fire management in the face of climate change.

In the second chapter, Skye Walker writes about the seemingly unchecked ability...