7th Circuit Court to Hear Alliance Appeal

Sadly, nothing in the realm of legal challenges goes quickly.  Earlier in the year, the Alliance requested that the federal court in Madison issue an injunction halting the high impact activities included in DNR’s Master Plan for the Sauk Prairie State Recreation Area. Those activities include dual-sport (off-road) motorcycles, dog training & trialing that entails the discharge of firearms (in sensitive grassland bird breeding areas) and Army helicopter training over and on our public recreation area.

Our attorneys argued that these activities could cause harm to air quality and wildlife if allowed to go forward before a final decision is made on the merits of our case sometime in 2018.  Unfortunately, the temporary injunction was denied. The Alliance has appealed that decision to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.  On November 9^th, a three judge panel will hear oral arguments on our case for an injunction. We anticipate the the ruling will come within a month.  Naturally, we’ll keep our members and interested parties apprised of any decisions in our pending legal cases.

A copy of our Reply Brief is found here.  The National Park Service’s earlier response is found here, and the DNR’s response is found here.

Interested citizens are welcome to attend the hearing.  If interested in joining us, please contact Charlie Luthin at: charluthin@gmail.com or call: 608-358-7120.

7th Circuit Court of Appeals
219 South Dearborn Street
Room 2721 (note, we announced room 2722 in our e-mail alert)
Chicago