In 1990, with one round of NFMA plans under its belt (but not yet knowing the wheels were about to come off), the Forest Service critiqued its planning process. The first recommendation to issue from that critique was to “Simplify, Clarify, and Shorten the Planning Process.”
Does the proposed new rule do so? The 1982 (aka, the current process) rule has 15,548 words. The proposed rule has 15,227 words. For perspective, the “unworkable” 2000 rule had 13,300 words. With those statistics, I doubt the new rule simplifies, clarifies or shortens.
[Updated — The 2012 rule has 13,252 words.]
BTW, my proposed K.I.S.S. rule has 1,400 words.