Administration proposes new forest rules

Plan angers environmentalists

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration wants to give managers of national forests and grasslands "more flexibility" and fewer obstacles for approving for a wide range of activities, such as mining extraction, logging, ranching and recreation.

The administration Wednesday released its proposal for a new rule "designed to more effectively involve the public and to better harmonize the environmental, social and economic benefits of America's greatest natural resource -- our forests and grasslands," said the Forest Service's associate chief, Sally Collins.

Environmentalists, however, blasted the proposal.

The plan, covering planning for the nation's 155 national forests and 20 grasslands, modifies regulations issued by the Clinton administration in 2000.

"The proposed planning rule retains the basic principles from the 2000 rule, which emphasizes meaningful public involvement, sustainability, use of science, and monitoring and evaluation," the Forest Service said in a written statement.

"In addition, the proposal provides forest managers with more flexibility to tailor analyses to the specific characteristics and challenges presented by their forests and grasslands. It also eliminates most of the procedural requirements and redundancies in the planning process, which could allow plans to be completed in a third of the time."

But environmental groups complained that the proposal not only eliminates scientific oversight but also increases agency discretion so as to reduce public involvement to the benefit of the timber industry.

"It's a blatant effort by the Bush administration to boost logging and help the timber industry, which had a clear hand on the pen of these regulations," Robert Dewey, vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental advocacy group, told the Associated Press.

The new proposal would allow local federal forestry officials to develop management plans for the land they supervise without having to first conduct an in-depth environmental impact study.

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