On Thanksgiving Eve, the Bush Administration unveiled their latest effort to increase commercial logging and resource extraction on America's national forests by proposing to dismantle the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) - a landmark law passed in 1976, which guides landscape level planning on our 155 national forests.

Make no mistake, this is just another attempt by the Bush Administration and former timber industry lobbyist Mark Rey - who currently oversees the management of the U.S. Forest Service - to increase commercial logging and resource extraction on America's national forests.

Given the fact that many national forests throughout the nation will be conducting a new round of forest plans in the near future, the environmental and social impacts of this new proposal rule will be felt far and wide.

Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long line of environmental rollbacks coming from the Bush Administration at the request of their longtime friends in the resource extractive industries.

The U.S. Forest Service is accepting public comments on proposed changes to the National Forest Management Act. You can send your public comments on this latest rollback to: USDA FS Planning Rule, Content Analysis Team, P.O. Box 8359, Missoula, MT 59807 or via email to planning_rule@fs.fed.us.

If you would like to look over some sample comments on this proposal, we will be providing these in the upcoming weeks.

In the meantime, please consider writing a letter to the editor of your local paper regarding this latest rollback and the Bush Administration's many attempts to increase commercial logging and resource extraction on our national forests. A sample letter to the editor has been provided below.

Thank you for taking the time to help protect our National Forests!

• Click here for a pdf version of proposed rule (.pdf)
  
  
• Click here for the Federal Register notice
  

The Bush Administration's proposed changes to the National Forest Management Act would:

• Exempt the U.S. Forest Service from conducting environmental impact statements when adopting or revising forest plans, meaning that the general public - and even the Forest Service - would have minimal information about the environmental effects of the Forest Service's proposals.
  
  
• Eliminate the requirement to maintain viable populations of native wildlife species. The viability requirement is the most important legal safeguard of national forest wildlife habitat.
  
  
• Eliminate the requirement that forest planners consult with a panel of scientists when drafting management plans.
  
  
• Eliminate the requirement that project impacts be monitored, leaving that up to local discretion.
  
  
• Downplay the importance of ecological sustainability by giving equal consideration to logging and other resource extraction activities.
  
  
• Eliminates consideration of public comment by postcard, form e-mail or other mass mailings.
  
  
• Requires the public to cite specific laws, regulations or policies when commenting on a proposal.
  
  
• Eliminates the public's right to appeal forest plans.
  
  

Click here for a sample Letter to Editor about this issue.