Virginia Forest Watch



National   Forest-Wide    
Clinch Ranger District  Eastern Divide Ranger District Glenwood-Pedlar Ranger Districts
James River Ranger District Lee Ranger District Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area
North River Ranger District Warm Springs Ranger District

Map of George Washington and Jefferson National Forest Ranger Districts

Note: all projected dates for release of Forest Service documents are agency estimates only. The FS lists its schedule of proposed actions at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj/projects_plans/sopa/index.shtml


NATIONAL

updated April 13, 2008

CURRENT AND UPCOMING

Summit of Potts Mountain, Mottesheard Roadless Area, New Castle Ranger District. Overlooking Peters Mountain
Summit of Potts Mountain, Mottesheard Roadless Area,
New Castle Ranger District. Overlooking Peters Mountain
Attacks on Forests Continue. Recent changes have awakened some in the Congress to the need to better protect forests, but the Bush administration is still defiant, engaging in a concerted, back-door effort to weaken our nation's environmental laws. We are currently witnessing a systematic and deliberate attack on public lands, roadless areas, and wildlife, and the laws and regulations that are in place to protect them.

The public cares deeply about the conservation of the National Forests. These attacks are not only putting the forests at risk, but they are also undermining public participation -- telling the public that it should go home and not bother getting involved any longer.


Nationwide Forest News (American Lands “Landscope”) :
http://www.americanlands.org/landscope.php


Roadless Areas:
Roadless Areas (Southern Appalachians): http://www.safc.org/campaigns/roadless/roadless_rule.php

Roadless Areas and other special areas (Virginia): http://virginia.sierraclub.org/newriver/mountaintreasures (Virginia Mtn Treasures, Jefferson)

Roadless Areas (nationwide): http://www.ourforests.org/

Roadless Areas (2007 - 08 Legislation):
Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2007 (H.R. 2516 and S. 1478)
Call to Action: Ask Your Member of Congress to Support Roadless Legislation
To look up your Member of Congress, go to: www.congress.org

The Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2007 was introduced in both houses of Congress in May 2007. This legislation would codify the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule into law. With your help, we can protect our roadless wild forests.

The recent repeal of the Bush administration Roadless rule by Federal Judge Elizabeth LaPorte reinstated the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that limits road building, logging and other development on about 60 million acres of national forests. These areas provide unmatched opportunities for camping, hiking, and other recreational activities, valuable habitat for fish and wildlife, and abundant supplies of clean drinking water. Judge LaPorte found that the Bush administration acted illegally in reversing the 2001 Roadless Rule. But the Bush administration is attempting to undo roadless protection piece-by-piece, beginning in three western states, Colorado, Idaho, and Alaska.

In Virginia, there are 394,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas, including areas like Laurel Fork in Highland County, North Fork of Pound in Wise County and St. Marys Addition in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties. Help protect these areas.

For more information about the repeal of the Bush administration's Roadless rule and recent efforts to reduce roadless area protection beginning with three western states, go to: www.ourforests.org For information about the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, go to: www.ourforests.org/roadless/ To find out how many acres of Inventoried Roadless Areas exist in your State go to: www.ourforests.org/local/

There are over 148 co-sponsors of the bill in the House of Representatives and over 19 co-sponsors of the companion bill in the Senate.

Current list of co-sponsors

(House of Representatives): http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-2516

(Senate): http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1478



Protecting Our Magnificent Wildlife & Our Natural Heritage:
About The Endangered Species Act: http://www.stopextinction.org/site/c.epIQKXOBJsG/b.736051/k.DDF6/About_ESA.htm

News and Updates:
http://www.stopextinction.org/site/c.epIQKXOBJsG/b.704799/k.CCB4/Home.htm


Involving the Citizens in Long-term Public Lands Decisions:
Plan revisions set the direction for national forests like the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests for 10-15 years! Unfortunately, many traditional opportunities for public participation in Forest Plan Revisions have been drastically cut by the Bush administration’s rewrite of planning regulations. Not only are most of these changes illegal, they are outrageous because they turn the notion of “public” lands and the “public” trust on its head, by eliminating the role of the public.

“Passed by Congress in 1976, the National Forest Management Act is designed to shape and guide implementation of "forest plans," which are intended to responsibly balance development, timber sales, road building, and other industrial projects with the need to conserve forested lands and resources like clean air and wildlife. NFMA serves as the basis for virtually every forest management and conservation effort on our nation’s 192-million- acre National Forest System, which makes up eight percent of the United States…The Bush Administration has proposed new forest-management rules that will result in a radical departure from the spirit and scope of NFMA.”

Bush administration rewrites of NFMA regulations in 2005 (and now 2008) threaten to weaken wildlife, clean water, and other environmental protections by transforming enforceable standards and goals to vague, unenforceable "desired conditions" and guidelines that the Forest Service need not follow.

See excerpts of articles on the April 2008 rewrite of the planning rules:

Forest Service Bid to Lift Wildlife Protections Met With Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 11, 2008 (ENS) - A coalition of 14 conservation groups filed suit today in federal court to block the U.S. Forest Service from implementing a new rule that would remove protections for fish, wildlife, and other resources throughout the 192-million acre National Forest System.

Issued earlier this month, the rule represents the Forest Service’s third attempt to weaken the nationwide regulations. The two previous attempts were rejected by the courts.

"The Forest Service violated the law in preparing new rules in 2000 and 2005, and the 2008 rule is also fatally flawed," said Paul Spitler, attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "The Forest Service should stop wasting resources and develop a rule that ensures protection for the fish, wildlife, and other resources in our national forests."

During the 1980s and 1990s, the Forest Service operated under nationwide regulations that provided mandatory protection for forest resources, including a requirement to ensure the viability of fish and wildlife species.

These regulations governed all timber sales, livestock grazing, and road construction throughout the National Forest System.
...
The new Forest Service rule issued earlier this month in response to the court's 2007 decision is nearly identical to the 2005 rule, the plaintiffs say. The 2008 rule would eliminate the long-standing requirement to ensure viable populations of fish and wildlife species.

The new rule decreases public participation in forest planning by allowing the Forest Service to "categorically exclude" entire forest plans from public review and environmental analysis requirements.

"Thankfully the Bush administration is coming to an end, as it continues to push forward with woefully inadequate protection for our national forests," said attorney Pete Frost of the Western Environmental Law Center...

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-11-092.asp


WASHINGTON, DC, February 7, 2008 (ENS) - Environmental attorney Trent Orr of the nonprofit public interest law firm Earthjustice warns that the Bush administration is again attempting to remove key protections for U.S. national forests.

This attempt was evident, he says, today, when the U.S. Forest Service released its court-ordered Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 2008 Planning Rule…..

"This preferred alternative expands public involvement by requiring early and frequent public dialogue in all phases of the development, implementation and monitoring of land management plans,” said David Dillard, director of Ecosystem Management Coordination….

Orr disagrees.

Like the draft released this summer, he says, the Final EIS just states that none of the alternatives would affect the environment….

The Final EIS reveals that the new regulations eliminate wildlife and diversity protections just as the 2005 Bush Rule did, Orr says, adding, "The new regulations substitute "Categorical Exclusions" for Environmental Impact Statements as the rule for forest plans."

"The Forest Service appears to be rushing out yet another set of regulations that weaken protections for wildlife and biological diversity on the national forests," Orr said. "This proposal will continue to favor industrial forestry over protecting clean streams and fisheries."

"Not only is the Bush administration trying to seriously weaken key protections for our National Forests, they pretend that these actions won't have any effect," said Kate Freund, legislative associate for Earthjustice. "They have once again failed to make a good-faith effort to follow the law."…

Last October, 68 members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter to the Forest Service opposing the proposed National Forest management changes and calling for thorough environmental review of the rule.

See the full article at http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2008/2008-02-07-093.asp


For more information, see http://www.americanlands.org/documents/1103737833_nfmafactsheet.pdf and http://www.wilderness.org/Library/Documents/upload/NFMA-Directives-Analysis.pdf.

A guide to the 2005 process, similar in many ways to the new 2008 process, can be found at http://www.safc.org/resources/documents/PlanningResourceGuidereduced.pdf.

Other regulations adopted in December 2006 will categorically exclude forest management plans from National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) review, cutting off most avenues of meaningful public participation until the individual project stage. For more information, see http://www.wilderness.org/OurIssues/Forests/ce.cfm