Forest Plan: Let It Be

In a flip-flop that is either a sign of blatant cynicism by the Bush administration or one boneheaded career move, a U.S. Forest Service bureaucrat has launched a “broad review” of a landmark plan for the forests of the Sierra Nevada--just days after his boss at the Department of Agriculture approved it.

The Sierra Nevada framework is a sound approach to the long-range management of more than 11 million acres of national forest on behalf of the forests’ owners, the people of the United States. It is the product of 10 years of intense scientific study, analysis and public comment. The goal is to manage the forest to protect old-growth areas that endangered and threatened species call home and to guard the Sierra against further damage by logging and livestock grazing. The plan would reduce commercial logging by as much as 80%, which is one reason why timber interests vehemently protested it.

Now it appears that the Forest Service is once again selling out to the tree cutters as well as to ranchers and off-road vehicle groups. But these are the people’s forests and should be managed with a broader view of the legacy that will be left to future generations.

The decision by recently appointed Regional Forester Jack Blackwell to bog down the exhaustively pondered plan with still more study came on New Year’s Eve, just four days after Mark Rey, the undersecretary of Agriculture, approved it.

Earlier, in what seemed a show of sincere support, the Washington-based chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Dale Bosworth, rejected attacks on the plan. He did leave open to review its recommendations for controlling wildfires near populated, developed areas--a reasonable proposal for flexibility.

Blackwell, however, went far beyond that, telling Bosworth that he has established a team “to review the entire record,” including impacts on logging, grazing and local communities. Blackwell explained in detail his reasons for reviewing the fire protection plans but provided no justification whatever for reopening other matters.

While it would be nice to hear his rationale, what’s really needed is for someone to tell Blackwell to back off. If that doesn’t happen promptly, environmental groups should launch a court challenge based on the reasonable conclusion that this about-face must be a trick by an administration that’s eager to return forest management to the bad old days of rape and run.