Summit County Citizens Voice

Agency wants to cut red tape, speed planning process and prevent lawsuits, but conservation groups say the new rule eliminates meaningful standards for protecting wildlife

The U.S. Forest Service is entrusted with management of precious public resources like this grove of bristlecone pines on Mt. Evans.

A couple of previous Summit Voice stories:

Forest Service releases draft of new national planning rule

Commentary: This land is your land … really!

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — The U.S. Forest Service today took a big step toward finalizing a new rule that will determine how the agency writes management plans for 155 forests spanning 193 million acres of public land.

According to the agency, the rule will cut red tape, reduce litigation and try to deliver tronger protections for forests, water, and wildlife — all while supporting the economic vitality of rural communities.

While the Forest Service says the new planning rule bolsters environmental protection, some environmental groups were quick to point out that the rule actually weakens enforceable standards for protecting wildlife.

“The most collaborative rulemaking effort in agency history has resulted in a strong framework to restore and manage our forests and watersheds and help deliver countless benefits to the American people,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“Under our preferred alternative, plan revisions would take less time, cost less money, and provide stronger protections for our lands and water,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. “Finalizing a new rule will move us forward in managing our forests and grasslands, and will create or sustain jobs and income for local communities around the country.”

The agency has tried three times previously to update the 1976 planning rule, but was challenged by conservation groups in court, losing each time, as courts rejected Forest Service attempts to cut public input or remove meaningful standards for wildlife monitoring.

“Today’s rule is a step up from the Bush administration’s rule, but its protections are still a far cry from Reagan-era regulations that the Forest Service has been trying to weaken for 12 years,” said Taylor McKinnon, public lands campaigns director at the Center for Biological Diversity, a group that has been part of the previously successful efforts challenging Forest Service attempts to weaken its own rules.

“Our publicly owned national forests should be a safe haven for wildlife. In the face of unprecedented global climate change and other threats to species, the Forest Service should be trying to strengthen, not weaken, protections for wildlife on our public lands,” McKinnon said.

The planning rule in effect since the Reagan administration includes strong, mandatory protections for fish and wildlife, requiring the Forest Service to monitor and maintain viable populations.

The Clinton administration in 2000, and the Bush administration in 2005 and 2008, tried revise the 1982 regulation. Each of these efforts was found unlawful and were not implemented.

The Obama administration is again trying to weaken the long-standing 1982 regulations by requiring that the Forest Service only maintain viable populations for species “of conservation concern,” and only at the discretion of local forest supervisors.

A notice of availability for the PEIS will be published in the Federal Register on February 3, 2012, and the Secretary will issue a record of decision selecting a final planning rule no less than 30 days afterwards.

Highlights of the preferred alternative include:

• Plans must include components that seek to restore and maintain forests and grasslands.
• Plans would include requirements to maintain or restore watersheds, water resources, water quality including clean drinking water, and the ecological integrity of riparian areas.
• Plans would be required to provide habitat for plant and animal diversity and species conservation. These requirements are intended to keep common native species common, contribute to the recovery of threatened and endangered species, conserve proposed and candidate species, and protect species of conservation concern.
• Plans would provide for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, wildlife and fish.
• Plans would be required to provide opportunities for sustainable recreation, and to take into account opportunities to connect people with nature.
• Opportunities for public involvement and collaboration would be required throughout all stages of the planning process. The preferred alternative would provide opportunities for Tribal consultation and coordination with state and local governments and other federal agencies, and includes requirements for outreach to traditionally underrepresented communities.
• Plans require the use of the best available scientific information to inform the planning process and documentation of how science was used in the plan.
• The planning framework provides a more efficient and adaptive process for land management planning, allowing the Forest Service to respond to changing conditions.

Filed under: Environment, Forest health, forests, public lands, Summit County news, US Forest Service Tagged: | Environment, National Forest planning rule, Public land, Summit County News, U.S. Forest Service, wildlife