Proposal Simplifies Forest Practices Foes Say Emphasis On Restoring Ecosystems Deters Other Uses
The Clinton administration on Friday proposed streamlining rules governing logging, recreation and other activities on national forests while placing added emphasis on restoring damaged forest ecosystems.
The proposed revisions of the National Forest Management Act drew criticism from environmentalists and timber industry leaders alike.
Industry officials said the new priority on maintaining sustainable ecosystems would undermine other laws directing national forests be managed for multiple use, including timber production.
“This would change the whole purpose of the national forests,” said Anne Heissenbuttel, director of forest planning and policy for the American Forest & Paper Association.
“Instead of providing for goods and services for the American public, the rule says the principal goal of the national forests is to maintain or restore the sustainability of ecosystems,” she said.
Environmentalists said the proposed changes would result in less protection for fish and wildlife, easing a requirement that the Forest Service maintain a “viable population” of all vertebrates found on an individual national forest.
Andy Stahl, executive director of the Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics based in Eugene, Ore., said the proposed change would free the Forest Service from monitoring populations of troubled species.
Instead, the agency would use a mathematical model to ensure the forest provided enough habitat to keep species alive, he said.
“Instead of going out to count spotted owls, you would go out and count acres of old-growth. Instead of monitoring owl population trends, you monitor old-growth acre trends. You will never know if your model is correct because you’ll never know if the number of the species is going up or down,” Stahl said.
Kevin Kirchner, a lawyer for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, added, “It’s like putting the canary in the coal mine and then telling the workers ‘We are taking care of you. We installed all these things to make the mine safe, but we are not going to check to see if the canary is alive.”’
The change in the so-called “viability rule” is expressed as an “option” in the proposal the Forest Service published in the Federal Register on Thursday.
The other option would be to stick with the current rule, a move opposed by the timber industry.
The Forest Service, under the Bush administration, proposed doing away with the “viability rule” altogether. Defending itself against environmentalists lawsuits in federal court in 1991, the Bush administration argued that the rule did not apply when species, like the spotted owl, were protected under the Endangered Species Act.
But U.S. District Judge William Dwyer of Seattle ruled that the owl was entitled to NFMA protection as well. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld that ruling.
Assistant Agriculture Secretary James Lyons, who oversees the USDA’s Forest Service, said the proposed changes are based on three central principles.
“The first is to make forest plans and planning procedures simpler, clearer and less expensive,” Lyons said Friday.
“The other two principles focus on promoting stronger relationships with the public and other government agencies, and incorporating principles of ecosystem management into the land management planning process,” he said.
Under the proposed rule, the Forest Service no longer would have to follow a lengthy 10-step planning process for all amendments and revisions to forest management plans.
The agency also no longer would automatically be required to prepare environmental impact statements on proposed activities, opting instead in some cases for the less timeconsuming environmental assessment.
The explanation of the rule written by Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas said it “explicitly establishes the maintenance or restoration of the sustainability of ecosystems as a goal” consistent with the agency’s “multiple use” mission.
“The principal goal of managing the national forest system is to maintain or restore the sustainability of ecosystems, thereby providing multiple benefits to present and future generations,” the proposed rule said.
“The level and flow of benefits from national forest system lands should be compatible with the restoration of deteriorated ecosystems and the maintenance of ecosystem sustainability over the long run. …
“This is essential because sustained yield of benefits for present and future generations is more likely to occur when the ecosystems from which those benefits are produced are in a sustainable condition.
“Without those natural systems functioning properly, the ability to provide multiple benefits would be at risk.”
The rule said another key aspect of the agency’s approach to ecosystem management is that “people are part of ecosystems and that meeting people’s needs and desires within the capacities of natural systems is a primary role of resource decision-making.”
xxxx Changes The proposed changes are based on three central principles, which include: Making forest plans and planning procedures simpler, clearer and less expensive. Promoting stronger relationships with the public and other government agencies. Incorporating principles of ecosystem management into the land management planning process. Source: James Lyons, assistant agriculture secretary.