Washington, DC January 12, 2021 – “Today, the Fish & Wildlife Service and NOAA proposed changing their regulations on Interagency Consultation for existing National Forest Plans. Today’s rule simply affirms the views long held by career professionals at the Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Department of Justice: Forest Plans are not “actions” subject to the Endangered Species Act’s consultation requirements. It is the result of years of experience that plan-level consultation adds nothing to species conservation, it simply delays needed management actions.
In 2016, the Obama Administration told the Supreme Court that a contrary Ninth Circuit decision “compels the responsible agencies to divert scarce public resources to the fulfillment of potentially cumbersome procedural measures that both agencies have determined to be unnecessary to achieve compliance with the ESA.” That point still stands.
This good government proposal eliminates the need for the FWS and the Forest Service to engage in unnecessary, duplicative consultation on underlying National Forest Plans, a requirement forced upon the agencies by activist litigators who are bent on eliminating needed management from our badly overstocked, fire prone National Forests.
Forest Plans set general parameters for forest management, including identifying areas appropriate uses for certain areas on National Forests – like timber sales or livestock grazing. Some Forest Plans are very old – as much as 30 years old in some cases. While plans are required to identify and take into account the needs of wildlife species, their general nature leaves analysis of specific actions to the project level, where species specific concerns are always addressed. The rule change proposed today will allow badly needed management projects – which reduce fire danger and help protect habitat, watersheds, and communities – to go forward without wasting limited resources revisiting older, general plans that apply to the whole forest.
The environmental litigation groups have filed dozens of lawsuits and won several injunctions, including one that lasted 13 months and prevented nearly all forest thinning on highly flammable National Forest lands in New Mexico. This unnecessary delay did nothing to improve forest conditions, and forced several small forest products companies to permanently close. Forest Plans on all of those forests were already under revision, and neither the Forest Service nor the Fish & Wildlife Service were concerned about project-level impacts on the Mexican Spotted Owl.
We urge the incoming administration to finalize the rule, as it largely mirrors the views advanced by the Justice Department in 2016. In order to meet their own goals to improve forest health, reduce fire danger, and prevent carbon emissions, the rule should be finalized as quickly as possible.
About the FFRC: The Federal Forest Resource Coalition is a unique national coalition of wood products companies, local governments, conservation groups who are united by concern for the National Forests. Representing over 650 member companies and more than 390,000 employees in 33 States, the FFRC is committed to improving the management of the National Forests and BLM lands to support healthy forests and vibrant rural communities. Federal Forest Resource Coalition 1901 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Suite 303 Washington, DC 20006