Forest Service plan draws fire from rural members of Congress from both parties

Lawmakers from rural congressional districts and both parties are voicing concern that the U.S. Forest Service's proposed planning document "could open the door to special-interest lawsuits and does little to ensure timber harvests will increase across the nation's millions of acres of national forests" and grasslands, Phil Taylor of Environment & Energy News reports.

By including requirements to "catalog invertebrate species and incorporating climate change language," the Forest Service "appears to be morphing into a hybrid of the National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, thrusting species viability above the needs of rural economies that depend on multiple-use of forests," Taylor reports, paraphrasing Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., who said, "The law requires species diversity, not viability."

Representatives pressed Harris Sherman, the Forest Service's undersecretary for natural resources and environment, "to explain why the rule does not explicitly promote an increase in timber production at a time when rural economies are reeling from unemployment and lagging tax revenues," Taylor writes. "Sherman said timber, as a multiple use, is expressly recognized in the draft plan, and added that the Obama administration predicted a slight increase in timber production in its new budget." (Read more; subscription required)