Forest Service revises rules governing national forests

By: MATTHEW DALY - Associated Press | Thursday, August 16, 2007 7:32 PM PDT ∞

WASHINGTON -- The Forest Service Thursday proposed rules for managing 193 million acres of national forests, responding to a court ruling that tossed out policies giving forest managers great discretion to approve logging and other commercial projects.

The Forest Service said the new rules would make land management plans more adaptable to changing conditions while ensuring continued public involvement in the nation's 155 national forests.

But environmentalists said the Bush administration was again trying to strip important protections for wildlife and clean water, despite a court order rejecting its approach.

"This new effort makes clear that the administration continues to try to push through favors for its friends in the timber, mining and oil and gas industries, even as the clock runs out on its term in office," said Tim Preso, a lawyer for Earthjustice, an environmental group whose lawsuit led to the March ruling.

The proposed rule could harm wildlife, lead to increased logging near streams and remove limits on the size of clearcuts, Preso said.

"The Bush administration wants to replace these fundamental regulatory guarantees with a new system that eliminates all environmentally protective standards from forest planning and dramatically reduces public oversight of national forest management," he said.

Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell, who took over the job earlier this year, said the rules would allow the Forest Service to protect the environment in an efficient and inclusive manner.

The plan includes a draft environmental impact statement with five alternatives that officials said would strengthen the role of science in forest management and allow more public involvement in the planning process.

The proposal "improves land management plans by making them more adaptable to changing conditions and the desires of the American people," Kimbell said, adding that the public "continues to be involved" in land management planning.

The Forest Service announcement follows a March 30 court ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton in San Francisco, who declared that the administration failed to consider adequately the environmental effects of the rules proposed in 2005. She also said the government didn't get proper public input.

Hamilton ruled that the government couldn't institute the 2005 rules until proper environmental reviews were conducted and more public comments allowed.

The ruling overturned a key environmental rule that governs all 193 million acres of national forests and stopped pro-business plans in the forests under way for more than two years.

When government officials announced the first new rules since the 1970s, they said changes would allow forest managers to respond more quickly to wildfires and other threats such as invasive species.

Forest managers and industry officials have complained that without the rule change they must conduct studies that can take up to seven years to complete. The 2005 rules would have allowed for forest plan revisions to be completed in two to three years, officials said.

A spokeswoman for the Forest Service said the new plan would take effect after a 60-day comment period and was not subject to judicial review.

"We believe we've complied with the court order, so we don't believe this is going to have to go through further (judicial) review," said Forest Service spokeswoman Donna Drelick.

But Preso said the plan was likely to end up in court -- again.

"Having already once defeated the Bush administration in court on this issue, we are closely monitoring this new effort to resurrect a deeply flawed forest management proposal," he said. "We will continue to take whatever action is necessary to protect the strong public interest in abundant wildlife, clean water, and public involvement in national forest management."

On the Net:

Forest Service: www.fs.fed.us/

Earthjustice: www.earthjustice.org

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