Created by Adam Rissien on February 3, 2012
The Forest Service released a new report yesterday titled, “Increasing the Pace of Restoration and Job Creation on our National Forests," which outlines how the agency will pursue initiatives and policies that promote landscape-scale restoration. It was released in conjunction with a list of new projects selected for funding under the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Act.
Created by Marlies Wierenga on January 31, 2012
For those of you not living in the Northwest, the Puget Sound, located in Western Washington, is an amazing saltwater estuarine system of waterways brimming with life (human and non-human). It’s tidally influenced by the Pacific Ocean and is fed freshwater from numerous streams and rivers flowing from the Olympic and Cascade Mountains. The total basin is over 12,000 square miles.
Created by Sarah Peters on January 27, 2012
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:
Created by Bethanie Walder on January 26, 2012
The Forest Service today released their Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for forest planning. This version of the "planning rule" has been in development for just over two years. The agency held regional and national roundtables, and also received more than 300,000 comments on the rule. They've been trying to update their 1982 planning regulations since the 1990s, but none of their previous attempts have survived the courts.
Created by Bethanie Walder on January 16, 2012
Posted on January 13, 2012
Nearly all national forests have published, or will soon publish, a Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) depicting which roads and trails are open to public motor vehicle use. Each year, the Forest Service will reprint these MVUMs in order to reflect changes made to the transportation system over the preceding year. It is important to review the MVUM annually to make sure that the Forest Service is not adding roads and motorized trails to the maps without fi rst engaging the public and completing the requisite environmental analysis required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Created by Bethanie Walder on January 10, 2012
Created by Adam Rissien on January 6, 2012
The Ravalli Republic reported today that the Bitterroot Travel Plan decision has once more been delayed; this time due to a 9th Circuit court ruling pertaining to the Montana Wilderness Study Area (WSA) Act of 1977 and the Gallatin National Forest’s management of the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horns WSA. This iconic law, shepherded by Sen. Lee Metcalf, requires the Forest Service to maintain the wilderness character as it existed when the law was passed.
Created by Marlies Wierenga on December 23, 2011
Created by Adam Rissien on December 14, 2011
In a recent article, the Durango Herald reported on a lawsuit filed by the Colorado chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers challenging motorcycle use on 14 trails covering 80 miles within the Rico-West Dolores area of the San Juan National Forest. The court challenge comes after the San Juan travel management plan was already reversed in a previous decision and sent back to the Forest Service for better analysis.
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