The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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The Forest Service seems to love the idea of partnerships, but questions remain as to how this happened, and where it will end. I’m not talking about government-to-government collaboration here, but so-called “partnerships” in other arenas. The notion is particularly contentious when partners are “for profit” corporations. In the early 1900s, the Forest Service would … Read more
What is the future of our National Forests? How do we fulfill NFMA’s challenge to plan for sustained yield of products and services into the future? In the messy world of forest planning, there are demands for certainty and assurances about the future, so subsequent project work can be done. Planners have responded with … Read more
Here is the link.. Below is the summary in the press release. The governors said it is imperative that the U.S. Forest Service coordinate with states and others in refining and implementing the new rule. The letter was signed by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter (Idaho), Chairman of the Western Governors’ Association, and Gov. Christine Gregoire … Read more
In an earlier post I offered some ideas for doing an assessment under the proposed Forest Service planning rule. The essential purpose of the assessment would be to review assessment questions derived from the rule to determine what in the Forest Plan needs to change for the Revision. In order to assess the relevant conditions of … Read more
An assessment is the gathering and integrating of information relevant to the planning area from many sources and the analysis of that information to identify a need to change a plan or to inform how a new plan should be proposed. – section 219.5(a)(1) of the proposed Forest Service planning rule It is a synthesis of information … Read more
Ray Vaughn, sometime contributor to this blog, has announced (in the letter which follows) that his organization Wildlaw, will soon cease to exist. After many successful suits against the Forest Service, Ray decided a few years ago that, as much fun as suing and winning might be, it might be more satisfying to work cooperatively … Read more
What I found most interesting about this pieces by Cecilia Clavet of The Wilderness Society, given the lecture by Toddi Steelman here, is asking “who is saying that science should determine policy?” and “in what context do they say it?”. Here we have an example of the perceived need for science to “take a front … Read more
Adaptive governance—an adaptive management approach to public lands management—is well underway, and will replace planning, the Forest Service’s chosen management strategy for the 20th century. This may be seen as a bold assertion. But the ideas and actions embedded in adaptive governance have been emerging for quite some time as more and more people realize … Read more
At a recent TED lecture at North Carolina State University, Professor Toddi Steeman talked about three science myths: “Science Determines Policy,” “Science is Objective,” and “More Science Leads to Consensus.” Steelman titled the talk, “My Jihad Against Scientific Fundamentalism.” Beginning about 7:50 into the presentation Steelman talks about so-called “Climategate,” as one of two … Read more
If adaptive governance, i.e. adaptive management applied to public lands, might help move beyond ongoing forest wars, how might the Draft NFMA Rule (pdf) be improved toward adaptive governance? This post outlines my ideas for improving the rule. Ultimately, I’d like to see us vet this proposal when more fully developed, against the Forest Service’s … Read more