Another Upcoming FS Regulation Change

Back in mid-December, Congress slipped a rider into the Interior Appropriations bill that will change the way that the Forest Service handles challenges to approved decisions.  The text of the bill is available online here but the portion relevant to appeals is Sec 428 on pg. 148:

Hereafter, upon issuance of final regulations, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall apply section 105(a) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6515(a)), providing for a pre-decisional objection process to proposed actions of the Forest Service concerning projects and activities implementing land and resource management plans developed under the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.), and documented with a Record of Decision or Decision Notice, in lieu of subsections (c), (d), and (e) of section 322 of Public Law 102-381 (16 U.S.C. 1612 note), providing for an administrative appeal process...

With one fell swoop, Congress has mandated that the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) objections process replace the current Forest Service appeals process for Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements.  It’s ambiguous how Categorical Exclusions will be handled, since the law specifically addresses only decisions made with decision notices (EAs) and Records of Decision (RODs).  My guess would be that the Forest Service will make all decisions subject to an objection process, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

However, the new objections process will not go into place until regulations are passed describing the process and putting it formally into place.  We’ll keep you posted as draft regulations emerge and there is an opportunity to comment. 

In the meantime, here’s a quick primer on how the HFRA objections process differs from the current appeals process.