A Big Shout-out to the Forest Service Press Office for a quick response on this.
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I know I can be critical of the media, but in this case I also think the Department could have done a better job on the rollout. All it would have taken is one clarifying chunk of words in an accompanying press release (or maybe it was there and I didn’t see it?)
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What does it mean in English to “open up” areas for logging? Using plain English, “to make available or possible” implying that those areas had not been previously open. This was possible as we can see from these media outlets:
Trump administration orders half of national forests open for logging
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued an emergency declaration that ordered the U.S. Forest Service to open up some 112.5 million acres of national forestland to logging.
A new policy opens 58% of U.S. national forests to logging by rolling back environmental protections.
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And we found out from the folks at the Associated Press (who wrote a fair story) that the acreage came from the Secretary’s announcement of acres covered by the ESD.
However, those of us experienced in this area might wonder “how does this related to other designations and forest plans?” Let’s look at the language the Secretary referred to in her memo from IIJA which sets out the parameters of ESD’s.
(3) Relation to land and resource management plans.--Any
authorized emergency action carried out under paragraph (2) on
National Forest System land shall be conducted consistent with
the applicable land and resource management plan.Now, we have acres where fuel treatments are allowed in the forest plan. The memo doesn’t actually change that. I asked the Press Office about other designations (Wilderness, Roadless etc.) and here is the answer from them:
The current map reflects boundaries within which there may be wilderness, roadless, or other special designation areas, as well as lakes, roads, structures, etc. Mechanical treatments are not allowed in designated wilderness areas, so logging is excluded. Restrictions or conditions associated with project level decisions, forest plans, regulations or Congressional Designations remain.
So the order, in and of itself does not, in fact, “open up” any new areas to “logging.” If a new project is proposed in an area that is OK based on all the other forest plan and other designations and restrictions, then it uses the ESD assists: no objection process-one action alternative-special injunction relief (the latter Rich J. was kind enough to explain.) Abbreviated NOP-OAA-SIR
Now some might argue that with this push for increasing timber harvest, forests might be inclined to do more projects that would require a site-specific plan amendment, and that’s possible, but forests could have done those anyway without the ESD. So in that sense, the ESD itself did not open anything. If a forest wants to go somewhere not in the forest plan, though, via a site-specific plan amendment, it would make the project analysis quicker via NOP-OAA-SIR.
So I would say that “opening for logging” based on the ESD, is not correct.
The Press Office told me that there will be a more detailed map shortly, so we’ll post that.
Apparently, Trump’s U.S. Forest Service issued guidance yesterday ordering each national forest to make formal public periods * optional * for projects located in areas designated as in an “emergency situation,” which applies to all 112.5 million acres per Sec. Rollin’s April 3rd memo.
We will talk about that letter tomorrow. But again, the ESD only applies to projects in areas allowed by the forest plan, and areas that are not Wilderness, not Roadless not other special designations. So no, it doesn’t apply to all 112.5 mill acres, because those projects are not allowed on all 112.5 mill acres. Plus there are hundreds of thousands of acres in previously approved projects and it obviously won’t apply to them.
The map shows the Ouachita and Ozark NF’s, in Arkansas and Oklahoma as ones being “opened up”. I can tell you these Forests are, and have been “opened up” for over a hundred years! Unless we start logging Wilderness, I see this map as just a pretty map – but in white and blue…..
These were what the NF acreages added up to if taken out of the individual NOV 2000 FEIS Roadless Area conservation map legends – VOL 2.
95,753,000-acres IRA or other special designation
93,470,290-acres All other NF System lands
189,223,290-acres total per that document.
I suppose much has changed since then?
I’m suspecting that the Colorado and Idaho Roadless Rules might have changed acreage.. but what can be allowed where is more complicated to distinguish. Also we might have more Wilderness Areas and special designations.
Thank you.
I suspect the culprit is often the headline writers (who seem prone to click-baitism). The WaPo article for example does not use the word “open.” The article actually leads off with, “The Trump administration has removed environmental protections …,” which is arguably correct because it reduces process barriers.