Keep public involvement in National Forest decisions

The Bush Administration continues its barrage of regulatory proposals designed to weaken environmental protection and public involvement in our National Forests.

One of the most serious attacks is aimed at citizens’ rights to comment on and administratively appeal timber sales and other Forest Service land management activities. The timber industry could scarcely have wished for more than this scheme, which will drastically diminish the public’s role in the management of its own public forests.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Withdraw proposal to weaken Appeals Reform Act

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am appalled at the Bush Administration's recent efforts to reduce public participation in the management of our National Forests. People should not be denied the opportunity to express their views about proposed Forest Service management projects, and to challenge agency decisions with which they disagree.

In particular, I strongly oppose the proposed changes to the Forest Service's regulation that implement the Appeals Reform Act of 1993. Those changes would reduce the ability of citizens to learn about and comment on proposed management activities. They would also make it much harder for people to file meaningful administrative appeals of agency decisions.

I am especially concerned about these aspects of the Appeal Reform Act regulations:

(1) allowing projects under appeal to be implemented immediately for economic reasons such as salvage logging;

(2) exempting relatively small timber sales from comment and appeal;

(3) limiting appealable issues to those specifically raised in comments;

(4) only considering "substantive" comments;

(5) omitting interested parties from the appeal process; and,

(6) exempting project decisions made by Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman or Under Secretary Mark Rey.

The proposal to weaken the Appeals Reform Act regulations is one of several regulatory changes that will drastically limit public involvement and analysis of environmental impacts. Others would exempt many forest plans, thinning projects, and salvage timber sales from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, for example. The Administration must acknowledge and explain the drastic cumulative impacts of these regulatory changes to public involvement and environmental protection in the National Forests.

I strongly urge the Administration to withdraw this proposal to weaken the Appeals Reform Act regulations. The proposal is fundamentally undemocratic and a betrayal of the millions of Americans who care about their National Forests and are entitled to a voice in their management.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 07, 2003

Background Information

BACKGROUND: Our statutory right to participate

In 1993, the Congress adopted the Appeals Reform Act. It gave the American people the statutory right to file administrative appeals of Forest Service land management decisions. The Congress passed the law in reaction to an unpopular effort by the Forest Service to eliminate its administrative appeals process.

The Appeals Reform Act gives people 45 days to file appeals of Forest Service land and resource management activities, such as timber sales and mining operations. The Regional Forester then has 45 days to review the appeal and issue a decision, unless the appeal is settled in the interim by negotiations. By law, the Forest Service cannot implement the action while the appeal is pending.

The Appeals Reform Act also requires the Forest Service to allow citizens 30 days to comment on proposed management activities. The agency must respond to public comments as part of its final decision on a project. Only people who comment on proposals are eligible to file administrative appeals of final project decisions.

The Bush Administration has blamed environmentalists for using the appeals process to delay thinning projects to reduce fire risks. We haven’t and the record proves it; the claim is a subterfuge to get the public out of public forest management by playing on people’s legitimate fears of fire. A 2001 study by the Government Accounting Office found that only 1 percent of hazardous fuels reduction projects were appealed. Nevertheless, the Administration and some members of Congress have advocated exempting thinning projects from appeal, or even repealing the Appeals Reform Act altogether.

THE CURRENT THREAT

On December 11, the White House announced its "Healthy Forests Initiative," a series of administrative actions and proposals supposedly aimed at reducing fire risk. One of these proposals is a major overhaul of the Forest Service regulations that implemented the Appeals Reform Act.

The changes to the appeal regulations would apply to all Forest Service management activities, though, not just to fire-related thinning projects. Among other things, the proposed regulations would reduce the types of activities subject to comment and appeal, and would allow salvage timber sales to proceed even while appeals are pending. They would also unfairly limit the issues in an appeal to those specifically discussed in the appellant’s comments, even if the final project is different from the proposal.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Please take a few minutes to help us combat this sweeping change in rules meant to protect our right to participate fully in decisions involving our public lands. When public participation is outlawed, only the timber industry will have a voice in the management of our national forest lands.

The deadline for comments is Tuesday, February 18, 2003. You can send comments to:

USDA FS, Appeal Rule Content Analysis Team
P.O. Box 9079
Missoula, MT 59807
Fax: 406/329-3556
Email: 215appeals@fs.fed.us

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