Tuesday, February 15, 2011
In proposing to decentralize the management of national forests and endangered species, the Obama administration may undo protections that President Ronald Reagan approved 29 years ago.
A new rule developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would give directors of the 155 individual national forests more authority to manage local habitats. Currently, such decision-making is in the hands of officials in Washington, DC, which has been the case since the Reagan administration established this centralized-authority approach in 1982.
Officials with the U.S. Forest Service say the change would move the government away from a one-size-fits-all approach to ecosystem management, pointing out how different national forests in Alaska are from those in Florida.
But environmentalists are wary of expanding the power of local forest supervisors because they doubt whether all of them will have the same regard for wildlife protections.
The USDA will accept public comments on the new rule until May 16. It intends to finalize the regulation by the end of this year.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
National Forests Plan Would Expand Local Discretion over Wildlife Management (by Darryl Fears, Washington Post)
National Forest System Land Management Planning; Proposed Rule (U.S. Department of Agriculture) (pdf)
Comments