Forest Service to try again on planning rule

The Forest Service will make a third attempt to update its rules governing the creation of management plans for national forests and national grasslands after courts rejected two efforts launched during the Bush administration.

According to a report in Monday's Billings Gazette, the agency will seek public input before drafting a rule. That process is a marked departure from the one used by the Forest Service when it issued regulations in 2005 and 2008.

The comments provided to the agency will be used to develop an environmental impact statement.

The Forest Service Land and Resource Management Planning Rule is required by the nation's primary statute governing the Forest Service. It was issued in 1982 and has not been updated since then.

Secretary of agriculture Tom Vilsack said in a speech last summer that "restoration" would be a primary goal of the agency and that the new planning rule would focus on protection of watersheds, the impacts of climate change and wildlife conservation.

"The Forest Service’s forest planning process provides an important venue to integrate forest restoration, climate resilience, watershed protection, wildlife conservation, the need for vibrant local economies, and collaboration into how we manage our National Forests," Vilsack said.

The agency did not appeal the most recent decision rejecting a revised planning rule.

The Bush administration sought, in one of the most controversial aspects of its efforts to revise the planning rule, to eliminate a requirement to maintain "viable populations of existing native and desired non-native vertebrate species
in the planning area."