The Forest Service is
revising the Forest Plans as required by law for the Bitteroot, Lolo,
Flathead National Forests. They have combined these three forests
into one planning process with three separate, but, we think, very similar
Forest Plans. The FS calls this grouping of forests the Western
Montana Planning Zone - >>>>WMPZ.
The Kootenai and Idaho Panhandle National
Forests have been combined into a planning group called Kootenai - Idaho
Planning Zone - >>>>>KIPZ. They are a little farther along than the
WMPZ.
Both KIPZ and WMPZ
have released their Draft Forest Plan. The comment periods are
over and they are working on the Final EIS. The FEIS for all
of these forests.is on hold pending a legal decision on the Bush
Planning Rule which has been enjoined by a federal judge. This
plan was processed under the Bush rule. Depending on the legal
outcome, it may have to be redone.
When the FEIS is
issued their will be a 30 day objection period after which changes
may be made and the Record of Decision (ROD) issued. Appeals
are not allowed under the new planning regulations. After the
ROD, we have to live with the plan or take it to court. 03/08
The Beaverhead NF recently
completed its plan but they
are going it alone and using the old regulations. MFMU has
appealed the plan and are waiting to here from Region 1
Supervisor. 06/09
The Gallatin, Helena, and Lewis
and Clark National Forests are revising their Travel Plans.
This page and the pages linked to it will be dedicated to the
forest planning issues that we need to be involved with until the plans
are completed sometime in 2006
The
Bush Administration has written new regulations for implementing the
National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The new rules are
intended to make forest planning much simpler. Under the new
rules there will only be one alternative. Some of the old
plans had ten or more. The new plans will bypass NEPA by using
a "categorical exclusion". The plans will not be
appealable. The new plans will be programmatic rather than
site specific although we have already seen plenty of site specific
direction, such as wilderness recommendations, in the new
plans. The new plans will include something called
"ecosystem management system" or EMS. This is a
totally new concept and we have no idea how it will be used and
neither does the FS as yet. And therein lies the biggest
threat from EMS. A new tool, untried, untested and undefined
can be used by clever managers to advance their own agendas.
Read what our President, Fred Hodgeboom, who was a forest planner
for the 1986 Flathead Forest Plan says about the new
regulations. >>>>NEW
REGULATIONS
A
FEDERAL JUDGE IN CALIFORNIA HAS RULED THAT THE NEW PLANNING RULES
CANNOT BE USED. THEREFORE ALL PLANS THAT WERE MADE USING THE
NEW RULES ARE ON HOLD.
NFMA
requires that the FS actively seek public input for its planning
initiatives. Some of these forests appear to be taking this
requirement seriously. But not the Flathead. There have
been 56 meetings on the Bitteroot and Lolo forests in Round Two of
public input and there have been a similar number on the Kootenai.
The Flathead has held six.
Round
One of public input was held under the old rules. KIPZ held a
round of very well attended public meetings in the very beginning to
help define the issues. WMPZ skipped that process.
Working groups were then set up on all the forests and they were
asked to develop "desired future conditions" for a set of
issues identified by the FS. The FS indicated that they would
develop alternatives using the input from the working groups.
However, they refused to say exactly how much importance they would
give to working group efforts.
When
both KIPZ and WMPZ decided to switch to the new planning regs, they
each developed a single option to cover all forests in their
respective planning zones and reconvened the working groups to
comment on the option. Except the Flathead. To learn
more about how Round One and Two of public input has played
out go to >>>>PUBLIC
INPUT
Round
Two is now over.
Round
Three began with the release of the Draft Plan at the end of
May. The comment period is over but neither planning zone has
released a FEIS or Record of Decision because of the pending
litigation.
To see where the new plans are
going, visit these pages and compare the old MA maps with the new ones.
>>>>KIPZ
>>>>WMPZ
And
Look at our analysis of the
trends in forest management >>>> Forest Planning
Trends
