National Forest Management Plan: Bush Administration Revisions

Background:

On April 10, 2008, the Bush Administration published new regulations for managing national forests and grasslands under the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”). These regulations govern every action on every acre of national forest and grassland in the country, of which there are 175 in 42 states, encompassing 192 million acres – 8% of the United States. Unfortunately, the Forest Service’s latest planning rules contain almost all of the same problems as the agency’s 2005 regulations that were struck down in 2007 in a legal victory for Defenders. Both the 2005 regulatory changes and these latest changes seek to turn the strict forest-planning standards established in 1982 by the Reagan administration into virtually meaningless suggestions, making it easier for industry to log, mine, and drill national forests with little to no regard for impacts on wildlife and the land.

Defenders and its conservation partners are preparing to head back to court in the face of the Bush administration’s latest attempt to undermine conservation of our national forests.

Defenders of Wildlife v. Johanns

In 2005, Defenders and co-plaintiffs filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Forest Service, challenging their failure to consider the impacts of eliminating these protections on the environment, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, and on endangered and threatened species, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. Defenders also challenged the failure to allow public input on significant changes made to the regulations between the draft and final versions, and challenged the failure to include environmental protection measures mandated by Congress in the National Forest Management Act of 1976. In March 2007, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton issued a decision enjoining the Bush regulations until U.S. Department of Agriculture considers their impacts under NEPA and the ESA, and accepts public input under the Administrative Procedures Act.

Related Documents:

Court decision

Status:


Victory

Co-filers:


The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Vermont Natural Resources Council, all represented by Earthjustice. (Additionally, a similar case filed by 13 other conservation groups led by Citizens for Better Forestry was joined with Defenders' case.)