Forest Plan Revisions
Due to the efforts of the Bush Administration in dismantling the 1982 forest planning regulations and replacing them with a watered down 2005 planning rule revision, National Forests throughout the Sierra Nevada are under serious threat of losing the many protections that they previously enjoyed. The Forest Service is advancing this plan revision process under a categorical exclusion which significantly erodes the potential involvement and oversight that the public has over the management of our public lands, and greatly erodes the long-stranding NEPA process of environmental review. This along with the administration's decimation of the conservation-focused 2001 Sierra Nevada Framework with its 2004 Framework revision has left the National Forests of the Sierra Nevada at risk of losing the amazing attributes that make them such unique global watersheds, recreation destinations, and significantly important ecosystems, or at the least, leaving them significantly diminished.
In March, 2007, a court decision regarding the 2005 planning rule (which serves as the basis for the entire plan revision process adopted by the Forest Service) put the future of this plan revision process in doubt. The Forest Service returned to the drawing board in an attempt to re-write the planning rule in hopes that it would survive the legal challenges that shut it down previously. In April 2008, the latest Planning Rule was released and it was a mirror image or the 2005 rule and therefore will undoubtedly be challenged by the same groups that prevailed in the 2007 legal case. While we wait for an end result to the legal battles taking place over the 2008 planning rule it is important to monitor the Forest Service’s plans and support a rigorous planning process that ensures the long-term protection of all of the important resources within the Sierra Nevada.