The National Forest Management Act

In a 2009 speech, the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, announced a plan to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for new planning rules. A draft EIS is expected to be released in the fall of 2010. Scroll down for more information.

The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) is the primary statute governing the administration of the National Forests. The Forest Service adopted new regulations implementing NFMA in 2000 after a three-year public process involving an independent Committee of Scientists and extensive consultation with Forest Service staff. These regulations replaced the regulations adopted in 1982 and represented a marked improvement in the Service’s approach to managing the complex ecosystems under its jurisdiction.

However, soon after the Bush Administration was up and running, former Forest Chief Dale Bosworth relieved all forests from complying with the new regulations, reinstated the 1982 regulations, and established a national team to begin re-revising them. In December 2002, the new proposed draft regulations were released, revealing a blatant attempt to undo much of what had been accomplished over the first revision process. In fact, they completely ignored the work of the science team. Pacific Rivers Council’s comment letter to the Forest Service outlined how the proposed NFMA changes would dramatically limit agency accountability and the public's ability to weigh in effectively on management of their forests.

The 1982 regulations remained in place until final regulations were issued January 5, 2005. This final rule was another step in the continued effort to diminish protections for watershed and aquatic resources. For example under the 2005 rule, Forest Plans were only required to have guidelines, but the 1982 and 2000 regulations required both guidelines and enforceable standards. This follows a very systematic effort to eliminate required protections and replace them with voluntary or recommended guidelines, including a new NEPA categorical exclusion for Forest Plans.

Most significantly, the 2005 rule eliminated the 1982 regulation requirements for national forests to maintain viable, well-distributed populations of vertebrate fish and wildlife species and their habitats on Forest Service lands and removed the “requirement for species population monitoring.” Because public lands are increasingly critical to the survival of many endangered species, this change could have put them at risk of extinction. The 2005 rule attempted to addresses NFMA’s statutory requirement to “provide for diversity of plants and animal communities based on the suitability and capability of the specific area” by making species diversity provisions optional. The 2005 rule attempted to exempt forest plans from Section 7 consultation requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by giving the Responsible Official discretion to make specific provisions for endangered species. The rule also reduced the role of ecological sustainability and reduced both public participation and scientific review. The net effect of these changes was that watershed and aquatic protections would continue to diminish, especially if Forest Service protections were made optional and the agency’s operating budget continues to be reduced.

Fortunately, in 2007 a court found that the 2005 rule was illegal and enjoined the rule. Click here to read more about the case by our conservation colleagues on Earthjustice's website. However, the Forest Service's response was to repropose essentially the same rule later in 2007. PRC joined a large group of organizations in a comment letter opposing this 2007 proposed rule. Nevertheless, the 2007 rule was finalized in April of 2008. Click here to read about a new lawsuit filed by our conservation colleagues challenging the 2008 rule. On June 30, 2009, a judge threw out the 2008 rule, leaving the Forest Service to decide whether to revert to the the 1982 or 2000 regulations. The Forest Service has since decided to follow the 2000 regulations, although transition provisions in those regulations allow use of the 1982 regulations; the Forest Service expects that forests will use 1982 rule provisions as they amend forest plans.

NFMA Forest Planning regulations have been in flux since revisions began in 2000.In a 2009 speech, the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, announced that the new administration will not appeal the court's decision but will instead begin a new process to revise forest planning regulations. At the end of the year, he announced a plan to prepare a new Environmental Impact Statement for new rules. Read the associated Notice of Intent. A draft EIS is expected to be released in the fall of 2010.