On December 12, 2006, the Bush Administration announced that it will categorically exclude forest management plans from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The announcement amounts to nothing less than the most radical overhaul of forest policy in the last 30 years. The new rule rewrites the 1976 National Forest Management Act (NFMA), which has governed federal forest management on all of this country’s 192 million acres of forest land for several decades.
Under NEPA and NFMA, public involvement and environmental analyses are required whenever the Forest Service undertakes changes to forest management plans - a process that occurs for each U.S. Forest every 15 years. However, under this new rule, any update, or significant change, would not be subject to NEPA review.
The new scheme has been criticized by incoming House Resources Chair Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) and is a poor decision for several reasons.
First, the plan eliminates the 27-year-old requirement that forest managers prepare environmental impact statements pursuant to NEPA. Environmental analysis ensures that science is carefully considered and that short term goals don’t trump long term management needs.
Second, the proposal limits the opportunity for citizens to have a say in management decisions on the forests they own. NEPA provides an avenue for citizens to learn about, comment upon and influence decisions affecting public lands that are important to them. For example, local communities deserve to know how forest plans will impact watersheds which provide clean water for municipal water systems, healthy fisheries, and a boost to local economies through tourism and recreation. Under the plan announced yesterday, the public will have scant information and less opportunity to influence these types of decisions.
The Administration claims that this will streamline the planning process and cut costs, but at what price? Environmental analysis of forest plans is not a practice that has clogged up the planning process. In fact, more than 99.5% of NEPA actions are completed without any judicial review. Instead, the 30-year process of environmental review has meant that forest decisions are made based on the best available science, that important wildlife habitat is protected, that the public had a say on what happens to our national forests lands, and most of all, that these forests will be healthy for future generations to enjoy.
Sadly, this announcement follows a disturbing pattern. For the past several years, the Forest Service has made major announcements about the management of National Forests just before the Christmas holiday in the hopes that few would be paying attention. On December 23, 2003, the Bush Administration exempted the Tongass, America’s largest National Forest, from the Roadless Area Conservation Rule – opening up a significant portion to new logging. But Americans love their national forests and are visiting them in record numbers every year. They want to see the lands they own protected for their family and for future generations. This major change in forest management and its impact on public participation should not go unnoticed.
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