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Hiking and wilderness advocacy groups won a key legal victory when a federal judge threw out a U.S. Forest Service plan that would have permitted more commercial packstocking in the central Sierra Nevada.

In her Oct. 30 ruling, Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte found the Forest Service's 2005 management plan for the John Muir and Ansel Adams wilderness areas "allows for significantly increased commercial packstock use in some parts of the wilderness, including areas previously recognized by the Forest Service as already heavily damaged from excessive stock use."

Citing the agency's past failure to protect and restore areas damaged by commercial packstocking, Laporte further ruled it was "irrational" for the Forest Service to approve a new plan that allows for more packstocking in the future.

Gary Guenther, a former backcountry ranger who now serves as the eastern Sierra representative for Wilderness Watch, one of the case's plaintiffs, called the ruling "a win-win" for anyone who loves wilderness and the High Sierra.

"The Inyo and Sierra national forests have consistently demonstrated an unwillingness to protect the John Muir and Ansel Adams wilderness areas from excessive use by commercial packtrains," Guenther said. "This decision should help to preserve these areas for the benefit of both present and future generations."

Sierra National Forest spokeswoman Sue Exline said the Forest Service was "very disappointed" that Laporte threw out the 2005 management plan, which cost the agency $7.5 million to produce.

"We're still waiting for the judge to give us further orders on what needs to be done," Exline said.

Jamie Rosen, the lawyer who represented the Forest Service in the case, and David Glazer, an attorney for the Department of Justice's environment and natural resources division, both declined comment.

Laporte scheduled a status conference Tuesday in San Francisco, giving both sides another opportunity to settle their long-standing dispute.

The legal tussle began in 2000 when three environmental groups, the High Sierra Hikers Association, Wilderness Watch and Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, filed a lawsuit charging the Forest Service with failing to regulate commercial packstocking in the John Muir and Ansel Adams wilderness areas.

These wilderness areas, located between Yosemite and Kings Canyon national parks, encompass more than 800,000 acres and include some of the Sierra's most spectacular features, including Mount Whitney, the Minarets and hundreds of alpine lakes, streams and meadows.

In 2001, Laporte ruled packstocking operations had damaged portions of the wilderness, concluding the Forest Service had violated the National Environmental Policy Act. She then ordered the Forest Service to complete an Environmental Impact Statement to study the effects of commercial packstocking, which led to the 2005 management plan.

In 2004, Laporte's decision was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Furthermore, the appellate court ruled the Forest Service had also violated the Wilderness Act by failing to restore and preserve wilderness resources that have been harmed by commercial packing.

In her latest ruling, Laporte wrote that portions of the Forest Service's 2005 management plan violated the NEPA, the Wilderness Act or both. She also declared certain provisions of the plan illegal, including one that allowed commercial operators to build campfires in areas where the general public cannot and another that permitted grazing in sensitive areas.

"The impacts of packstocking, if excessive, have long-term impacts that alter the natural function of the environment," Guenther said. "A lot of these impacts aren't noticeable to the lay person, but they accumulate over time.

"A meadow at 10 to 12,000 feet used for grazing might only have a growing season of 60 days because the rest of the year it's too cold."

There are 17 commercial packstock outfits with permits to operate in the John Muir and Ansel Adams wilderness areas, Exline said. Most of them are based on the Sierra's east side.

John Cunningham, owner of the High Sierra Pack Station, disagreed with Laporte's ruling and invited the judge to have a look for herself.

"I wish she would leave the bench, come to the backcountry and have a look for herself," said Cunningham, who runs commercial pack trips out of Edison and Florence lakes.

"It's not in as bad a shape as it's made out to be."