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Federal land managers must consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on national fire plan logging projects to determine impacts to endangered species like lynx. PHOTO COURTESY COLORADO DIVISION OF WILDLIFE.
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — Slowly but surely, a slew of environmentally harmful Forest Service regulatory changes adopted under the Bush administration area being rolled back.
Most recently, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down Bush administration regulations dating back to 2003 that would have allowed National Fire Plan projects to move forward without consulting the government’s own wildlife experts.
The regulatory changes were billed as cutting red tape for forest health projects, but were really intended to give extractive industries free reign on public lands. Conservation groups challenged the regulations in 2006, arguing that the short cuts violated long-standing Endangered Species Act procedures that help protect the environment and imperiled wildlife.
“The U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies should consult wildlife experts when considering projects that might affect endangered and threatened wildlife,” said Mike Senatore, vice president of conservation law for Defenders of Wildlife. “That’s the simple proposition behind one of the most critical provisions of the Endangered Species Act. But the Bush administration ignored the opinion of its own scientific experts and tried to brush aside this common sense and legally mandated requirement.
“Regional wildlife directors knew it was wrong, environmental advocates knew it was wrong, and the American people knew it was wrong. Now a federal judge has finally thrown out these ill-conceived regulations … This decision makes it clear that the existing consultation process already allows for timely and effective forest fire planning without discarding vital wildlife protections.”
The Endangered Species Act requires that federal agencies consult with experts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to determine the impacts of their actions on endangered and threatened wildlife.
Regulations issued by the Bush administration in 2003 altered this legal duty to severely limit the role of wildlife experts when considering projects under the National Fire Plan. Similar regulations to short-circuit the consultation process for registration of pesticides were previously overturned by another federal court.
A much broader Bush administration policy that essentially eliminated all consultation requirements was issued at the end of 2008 but was promptly withdrawn by the Obama administration in 2009.
Filed under: biodiversity, endangered species, Environment, Forest health, forests, Summit County news, US Forest Service Tagged: | endangered species, endangered species act, Environment, national fireplan wildlife consultations, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Forest Service
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It is important that we try to have environmentally savvy people in every elected and appointed office in the country. Look what would have happened if the federal judge had been on the other side of the environment. One weak link can be detrimental to our environment.
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I suppose there will be objections, such as jobs lost, but if one looks over the history of logging, the skeletons of past logging enterprises litter the landscape, especially the clear cut variety. As with most industrial level enterprises, the easy ones go first, then it’s on to the more difficult ones, costing many more dollars, as well as environmental costs too.
One other comment, looking into the face of the photo caption here, especially the eyes, causes me to think it understands, yet the fear is still there.