Unpublished Disposition, 881 F.2d 1083 (9th Cir. 1989)

MEMORANDUM^* 

This is an appeal from the district court's denial of an application for intervention pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 24. Appellants are established environmental groups concerned with preservation of wildlife in the Grays Harbor Federal Sustained Yield Unit. The underlying lawsuit was filed by Harbor Against Land Takeover (H.A.L.T.) challenging the Forest Service limitations of timber harvesting. The district court denied their application for intervention without stating any reasons. This panel, as a motions panel, granted the appellants' emergency motion for stay, set an expedited briefing schedule, and heard telephonic argument on the merits of the appeal.

In this appeal, as in the district court, the applicants for intervention maintain that their case is controlled by our decision in Sagebrush Rebellion, 713 F.2d 525 (9th Cir. 1983). We agree. See also Portland Audubon v. Hodel, 866 F.2d 302, 309 (9th Cir. 1989). The intervenors in this case, as in those cases, seek to represent environmental interests in challenging federal land use administration under federal statutes. The requirements for intervention as of right have been satisfied. This case does not involve an essentially private contractual dispute as appellee contends, and hence our decision in Westlands Water District v. United States, 700 F.2d 561 (9th Cir. 1983) is inapposite. The applicants' motion and appeal are timely, and there has been no waiver by virtue of applicants' effort to file an amicus brief in the district court.

The decision of the district court is REVERSED, and the matter REMANDED with instructions that the district court enter an order permitting the appellants to intervene as a matter of right pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a).