A federal judge ruled last Friday, March 30th, that the Bush Administration illegally adopted wholesale changes to the planning regulations that control activities in the country’s national forest system.  Federal Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ruled that the Administration failed to consider and analyze the effects of the “paradigm shift” in changes it made to the rules, including eliminating the requirement that forests must ensure that special wildlife species will survive.

“People who love wildlife and care about our public forests should be elated by this decision,” said WELC attorney Pete Frost, who represents several conservation organizations in the case.  “The court recognized that all of us have the right to say how our forests will be managed.”

 In 1982, the Reagan Administration adopted the first comprehensive regulations to determine how the nation’s 192 million acres of forests and grasslands shall be managed.  The regulations required each forest to write individual plans that identify special wildlife species, such as grizzly bears, lynx, and goshawk, and ensure that they survive.  In 2005, the Bush Administration eliminated that requirement, giving each forest discretion whether to protect wildlife at all when it revised its plan.

Further, previously, the public had the right to review and comment on the forest planning regulations before they were adopted.  In contrast, in 2005, the Bush Administration refused to prepare an analysis of the environmental effects of its changes to the rules, or give the public the change to review or comment on such an analysis.

 All but one forest plan in the nation is based on the standards and requirements in the 1982 regulations.  Recently, each forest began the process of revising its plan.  Some chose to do so under the 1982 regulations, and some chose to do so under the 2005 regulations.  The court’s ruling means the Forest Service cannot revise any plans based on the 2005 rule.

The conservation group plaintiffs include Citizens for Better Forestry, Gifford Pinchot Task Force, Cascadia Wildlands Center, The Lands Council, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Utah Environmental Conference, Conservation Northwest, Oregon Wild, and the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center.

Read the Opinion.

To read about this widely publicized, national victory in the press click the following links:

Judge axes new U.S. forestry rules http://www3.cnn.com/2007/US/03/30/forest.rules.ap/index.html

Judge Cuts Down Bush Forest Rules http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/31/national/main2632106.shtml

Judge rejects national forest rules

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/03/31/d3.wst.forestrules.0331.p1.php