The court of appeals reversed a district court judgment and remanded the action with directions. The court held that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service acted arbitrarily and capriciously in limiting to a period of five years its biological opinion analysis of the effects of its historical river hatchery operations on an endangered species of trout.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) operated the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery (Hatchery), which in 1939 began work as one of several hatcheries intended to replace salmon spawning grounds in the upper Columbia River after completion of the Grand Coulee Dam. The Hatchery, which was built on Icicle Creek, itself blocked fish passage in the Creek.
