FOREST SERVICE RULE FAILS TO ENSURE PROTECTION OF WILDLIFE AND WATERSHEDS

Your letters needed by May 16

The U. S. Forest Service has issued a draft rule governing the preparation of management plans for all units of the national forest system. The proposed rule would not require forest plans to contain strong provisions for protecting wildlife and watersheds. Rather, the decision to include protective measures in plans would largely be left to local managers.

WHAT WE NEED TO DO.  We need a massive input of letters insisting that the rule be strengthened to require strong protective measures. See below.

Background.  The national forest system, which includes national grasslands, covers 193 million acres in 42 states and Puerto Rico. There are seven units in Colorado, totaling 14.4 million acres, about 26 percent of the state. A 1976 law requires the Forest Service to prepare, with public involvement, plans that govern all projects and activities for each  unit. This law also requires the agency to issue a rule providing direction on how to prepare and issue such plans.

The first planning rule was issued in 1979 and amended in 1982. It had many good features, including requirements that plans protect the viability, or long-term persistence, of all native vertebrate wildlife species. It also had specific measures requiring protection of riparian (streamside) areas and watersheds. The 1982 rule was used to prepare  plans for every unit of the national forest system.

There have been three previous attempts to weaken the 1982 rule. Two such efforts in the previous decade required plans to have almost no meaningful direction whatsoever. Fortunately, these rules were voided by court decisions.

FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED RULE.  The proposed rule has some good provisions. It would require that plans have standards, or mandatory limitations on activities, to protect resources. It would also require that the possible effects of plans be disclosed in an environmental impact statement. However, the proposed rule has some serious shortcomings:

  --Only a few wildlife and plant populations would receive any protection, and even this would be totally at the whim of the local manager.

  --Monitoring for rare species of wildlife would not be required, so there would be no way to determine if management was helping protect and recover these populations.

  --Streamside protection is weak, as units could determine how wide riparian buffers would be. The proposed rule specifies no minimum buffer width.

  --Monitoring requirements are weak, as projects (like timber sales) would not have to be  monitored, nor would plans have to identify levels of impacts that would force consideration of changing management practices.

GET INVOLVED! HELP PROTECT WILDLIFE AND WATERSHEDS ON NATIONAL FOREST LAND.  Hard mail, e-mail or fax your comments, respectively, by May 16 to:

Forest Service Planning DEIS,

c/o Bear West Company

132 E 500 S

Bountiful, UT 84010

http://www.regulations.gov

fax to 801–397–1605

Make some or all of the following points in your letter, e-mail, or fax:

  --Briefly describe your own use of national forest land (for hiking, hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, etc.) and say why protecting natural values like wildlife and water quality is important to you.

  --Insist that the rule require plans to protect the viability of all native species of plants and animals.

  --Insist that the rule require plans to provide specific protection for watersheds, especially riparian areas, the areas adjacent to streams and lakes.

  --Insist that monitoring requirements be strengthened to require monitoring of populations and trends of rare wildlife and plant species. Plans must also identify how much impact can occur to these and other resources before a change in management is needed.

For further information, call Rocky Smith, Colorado Wild, at 303 839-5900.