The Trump Administration is Attempting to Limit Your Voice in Public Lands Management

Clear cutting along the Siletz River, OR | Photo by Shane Anderson @ Pacific Rivers

Tell the U.S. Forest Service to Maintain Public Input in its Decision-making Processes under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Our national forest system is home to some of the most treasured and important rivers and streams in the U.S. In addition to being the places that we float, fish, swim, hike, bike, hunt and fish, our national forests provide clean drinking water for 180 million Americans – nearly half of the people in our country. In fact, the U.S. Forest Service owes its founding to Forest Reserves that were created in 1891 for the express reason of protecting our sources of clean water. In addition to providing clean water for drinking, agriculture and industry, our national forests support a $13 billion outdoor recreation economy and 193 million acres of increasingly scarce fish and wildlife habitat.

The Forest Service’s most difficult and important job is balancing the many needs and uses of the lands and waters that it manages. This balance is largely accomplished through public participation guaranteed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), one of our nation’s most important environmental laws.

The Forest Service is proposing sweeping rule changes to NEPA that would virtually eliminate the public’s voice in a majority of the decisions affecting national forests - up to 93% of the agency’s decisions would be exempt from public input. The agency claims that this is needed to bypass environmental analysis when there would be no harmful impacts to the land, but the proposal is far too broad. The result would be to fast-track certain projects such as logging, mining, road building, prescribed burns, and oil and gas development, which when done in the wrong way or in the wrong place, can negatively impact clean water and functioning rivers. The health of our rivers and streams depends upon the ability of all Americans to weigh in on these important decisions.

The future of our rivers and streams depend upon the ability of the public to participate in the management of our National Forests. Raise your voice below to tell the Administration that the public participation enshrined in NEPA is critical to ensuring that only well-crafted, safe and balanced projects in the national interest can move forward on public lands!

More information is available at https://www.fs.fed.us/emc/nepa/revisions/index.shtml.

The proposed rule change is open for comment until August 26. Comments may also be submitted through www.regulations.gov by searching docket number FS-2019-0010. Comments can also be submitted by mail to NEPA Services Group, care of Amy Barker, USDA Forest Service, 125 South State Street, Suite 1705, Salt Lake City, UT 84138; or by email at [email protected]

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NEPA Services Group

USDA Forest Service

Dear Chief Vicki Christiansen,
Dear Deputy Chief Chris French,
Dear Secretary Sonny Perdue,
Dear Under Secretary James E. Hubbard,

As someone who cares deeply for our public lands and waters, I am writing to ask you to reject the rule changes that the U.S. Forest Service is proposing to its compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). While less analysis may be warranted for projects that are truly harmless, the U.S. Forest Service is putting forward a proposal that would virtually exempt public input from 93% of the agency’s decisions, including decisions regarding resource extraction projects that could impact clean water, free-flowing rivers, fish and wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation.

The proper management of our public lands and waters depends upon open decision-making and public involvement. The policy change being proposed by the Forest Service under the guise of efficiency would violate the public trust by moving permitting for activities such as logging and mining behind closed doors – activities which can greatly impact rivers and clean water when done poorly or outside of public and scientific oversight. Such impacts to rivers and clean water can be permanent, and require the level of scrutiny enshrined in NEPA, which was passed by large bipartisan majorities in Congress. If the Forest Service is interested in addressing the causes of inefficiency in environmental decision-making, the agency should focus on increasing funding, staffing, and training in support of its overall mission.

The rule changes that the U.S. Forest Service is proposing are wrong, and I urge to reject them.

Thank you,

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