2147, 90 L.Ed.2d 735-which held that a federal statute requiring States to use Social Security numbers in administering certain welfare programs did not violate Indian religious rights under the Free Exercise Clause-this Court rejected the same kind of challenge that respondents assert. The Free Exercise Clause does not prohibit the Government from permitting timber harvesting in the Chimney Rock area or constructing the proposed road. Because it appears reasonably likely that the First Amendment issue was necessary to the decisions below, and because the Government is confident that it can cure the statutory defects identified below, it would be inadvisable for this Court to vacate and remand without addressing the constitutional question on the merits. The structure and wording of the District Court's injunction, however, suggest that the statutory holding would not have supported all the relief granted, and the Court of Appeals' silence as to the necessity of reaching the First Amendment issue may have reflected its understanding that the District Court's injunction necessarily rested in part on constitutional grounds. The courts below did not clearly explain whether-in keeping with the principle requiring that courts reach constitutional questions only when necessary-they determined that a decision on the First Amendment issue was necessary because it might entitle respondents to relief beyond that to which they were entitled on their statutory claims. The Court of Appeals affirmed in pertinent part.ġ.
The court issued a permanent injunction that prohibited the Government from constructing the Chimney Rock section of the road or putting the timber-harvesting plan into effect, holding, inter alia, that such actions would violate respondent Indians' rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and would violate certain federal statutes. After exhausting administrative remedies, respondents-an Indian organization, individual Indians, nature organizations and members thereof, and the State of California-filed suit in Federal District Court challenging both the road-building and timber-harvesting decisions.
At about the same time, the Service also adopted a management plan allowing for timber harvesting in the same area, but providing for protective zones around all the religious sites identified in the study. Rejecting the study's recommendation that the road not be completed through the Chimney Rock area because it would irreparably damage the sacred areas, and also rejecting alternative routes outside the National Forest, the Service selected a route through the Chimney Rock area that avoided archeological sites and was removed as far as possible from the sites used by the Indians for specific spiritual activities. This area, as reported in a study commissioned by the Service, has historically been used by certain American Indians for religious rituals that depend upon privacy, silence, and an undisturbed natural setting. These results indicate that montane road verges are far better conduits for the dispersal of exotic species than previously assumed, and that further colonisation of the hinterland by exotics can be expected.In 1982, the United States Forest Service prepared a final environmental impact statement for constructing a paved road through federal land, including the Chimney Rock area of the Six Rivers National Forest. Over time, exotic species increasingly moved into the hinterland from the verges as a result of human-mediated colonisation pressure. ConclusionĮxotic species richness and composition displayed a high spatiotemporal rate of change. Road verge and adjacent hinterland transects differed in species composition in 2007, but no longer in 2017. Ten years onwards, exotic species richness had increased significantly across the entire elevational gradient, predominantly in the low- to mid-elevational range. A Canonical Correspondence Analysis was used to determine if exotic species’ composition had changed over time. Generalised Linear Models were fitted to test if exotic species’ richness and cover had changed over time. In each transect, we estimated the cover of each exotic plant species and the total cover of indigenous species. We surveyed road verge and adjacent hinterland transects (25 × 2 m N = 80) across an elevational gradient of 1,500–2,874 m a.s.l. Montane grassland, Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area, South Africa. How has exotic plant species richness and composition changed in and adjacent to a montane road verge over a 10-year period? Are montane road verges conduits of exotic species’ dispersal into adjacent, undisturbed hinterland? Location
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