A key component of the Bush Administration's anti-conservation agenda is to change federal regulations -- proposals that usually do not make it to the front page of the newspaper, but which can fundamentally change how forests are managed and what rights the public has to weigh in on management decisions. And a new Congress sits poised to support the Administration and its industry allies.

Not to Be Underestimated
The breadth of the attack on our forests cannot be underestimated. An emboldened Administration wants to relax, weaken or eliminate key environmental protections for our air, water and public lands. Two years into its term, key staff are in place with the experience to move aggressively on an anti-conservation agenda that will subvert the public's interest in their forests to commodity producers.

In December 2002, the White House announced its "Healthy Forests Initiative," a series of administrative actions supposedly aimed at reducing forest fire risk. But the Administration is using the concern about fires to cut back on protections for all Forest Service lands, regardless of their fire risk.

At the same time, the newly elected Congress has established a leadership team that promises to step up efforts to open up our National Forests and other public lands to increased logging and other exploitative practices. In almost every instance, Congress and the Administration are attempting to undermine the fundamental tenets of the National Environmental Protection Act.

Administrative Attacks
The actions following the November 2002 election signify the intensity of the Administration's intentions; five separate proposed rule changes that would seriously erode fundamental safeguards for our forests have already been released. The range of final, proposed, and expected administrative actions include the following:

Forest Regulations

• New regulations (June 2003) for categorical exclusion (CE) of National Forest fuel projects will allow large logging projects with virtually no consideration of their environmental impacts.
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• New regulations (June 2003) for the Appeals Reform Act will make it more much difficult to appeal bad land management decisions.
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• Proposed changes to National Forest Management Act (NFMA) regulations would weaken public participation and the requirement to manage National Forests for a diversity of wildlife.
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• Expected rulemaking to undercut the protections of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
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• Final guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality that shorten the environmental assessments for fuel reduction projects.
• Final guidance from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service would give Forest Service scientists responsibility for analyzing Endangered Species Act questions -- scientists who are under pressure to meet "timber cut" goals.
• Streamlining of procedures would allow state and local governments to take control of roads and paths on federal public lands under obscure RS 2477 route claims.
• Proposed rulemaking to exclude intermittent and ephemeral streams, small tributaries and wetlands adjacent to those waters from coverage under the Clean Water Act.
• Additional logging projects in roadless areas, such as the Tongass National Forest, which has 29 projects in the late stages of review, and in the National Forests of Idaho and Colorado.

Forest Management Plans

• Proposals to unravel the Pacific Northwest Forest Plan through settlement agreements of industry lawsuits and other administrative rulemaking.
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• Review and possible weakening of forest protection policies outlined in the Sierra Nevada Conservation Framework.
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• The release of a draft plan for the Giant Sequoia National Monument that promotes logging in the Monument, in violation of the presidential proclamation that established the area.
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Legislative Threats
The looming legislative threat is embodied in the newly appointed chairs of the key committees responsible for shaping legislative proposals affecting the environment. Senator Pete Domenici (R-MN), chair of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), chair of the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands, rank at the bottom of the League of Conservation Voters 2002 Congressional Scorecard (scoring a dismal 8 and 4 percent; respectively in pro-environment actions).

The same is true of Representative Richard Pombo (R-11th CA), chair of the Committee on Resources (9 percent voting record) and Representative Scott McInnis (R-3rd CO), head of the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health (18 percent voting record). Measures that this leadership team is likely to move forward include:

• The Administration's so-called "Healthy Forest Initiative," legislation that will eliminate environmental reviews and administrative appeals, curtail judicial review and mandate more logging in environmentally sensitive areas far from communities at risk from wildfire.
• One or more Congressionally initiated fuels reduction bills that will increase logging at the expense of environmental protection and public participation.
• Permanent authorization of Forest Stewardship Contracting that could potentially allow for semi-commercial logging without Congressional oversight.
• Land law reform legislation that would rewrite public lands protection and management laws, allowing ease of access for development.
• Reductions in the Forest Service appropriations account for conservation activities.
• Anti-environmental riders to the FY 2004 Interior Appropriations bill that encompass any of these proposals.
• Legislation to "log for water" in the Rocky Mountain West, i.e. proposals to allow clear-cutting to increase run-off.
• Old-growth legislation that trades forest protection on the west side of the Cascades for watered down environmental reviews and the loss of legal challenges on east-side forests.
• Authorization of Charter Forests that cede management control of select National Forests to local or state authorities.
• Legislation to give federal lands in the Tongass National Forest to the University of Alaska and other initiatives to promote logging on this forest.
• Legislation to increase energy, oil and gas leasing and biomass development in National Forests.

Any one of these administrative or legislative measures could move forward at any time, and many have already. The FY2003 omnibus appropriations as approved by the Senate contains a provision that would authorize an additional 28 stewardship contracts, bringing the total of such pilot projects to 112. Another provision of in the Senate-passed bill sponsored by Senator Stevens would insulate the Forest Services' Supplemental Environmental Impact Statements (SEIS) on wilderness review of the Tongass National Forest from judicial review by the conservation community.

State of the Union
On January 29th, 2003, the President in his State of the Union address to Congress singled out the so-called "Healthy Forest Initiative" as a major project for his administration in the first session of the 108th Congress. In December, the Forest Service released its new NFMA regulations for comment, a sweeping rewrite of forest policy. "Logging for water" bills have been introduced in the Colorado legislature, thereby setting the stage for consideration of such proposals by both the Forest Service and Congress. Of the long list of attacks listed above, we fully expect that a fire and fuels reduction proposal will move forward in Congress, the Forest Service will attempt to dismantle the Northwest Forest Plan through court settlements with industry and that Congress will move to permanently authorize stewardship contracting without assessing the impact of the pilot projects.