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Published Thursday Forest chief rejects appeals to new plans
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| THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | |
U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth has defended new plans for managing forests and grasslands in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wyoming, rejecting all 16 appeals filed against the plans.
The revised management plans of 10 National Forests and Grasslands were finished and approved by regional foresters Brad Powell and Rick Cables in the summer of 2002.
The plans include the management of the Nebraska and Samuel R. McKelvie National Forests and the Oglala National Grasslands.
The appeals ranged from problems with wildlife management to cattle-grazing policies.
One of the appeals filed by a broad coalition of conservation groups - including the Predator Conservation Alliance and the Sierra Club - said the plans don't do enough to protect prairie dogs and similar species.
For the Forest Service to make a blanket refusal to all the appeals is disheartening, said Jonathan Proctor of the Predator Conservation Alliance.
"To have them rejected puts us in a bind, but more importantly puts the wildlife in a bind," Proctor said.
Management plans are the governing documents for forest service agencies, directing the management of livestock grazing and thinning, travel, recreation and wildlife among others. Law requires agencies to update their plans every 10 to 15 years. Once those plans are approved regionally, they go to the chief in Washington. After that decision is made and the Secretary of Agriculture is given a 15-day review period of the plan, there are no more chances to appeal.
It is common for appeals to flood in after plans are finished.
Proctor said the appeals often are small in nature. Most times the Forest Service will implement at least a few, Proctor said, but this time, none on either side of the issue were taken.
Heidi Valetkevitch, a spokesman for Bosworth's administration, countered that it's not unusual to have an entire plan affirmed without changes.
Bosworth's 112-page decision released Friday rejected the appeals, saying that the regional foresters had met all requirements in their decisions.
Nebraska National Forest spokesman Jerry Schumacher said the forest got word of the chief's decision last week.
"We were very pleased that the decision was upheld," Schumacher said.
The 16 appeals were widespread and complicated, Schumacher said, and the decision was well-documented.
"To go through all those contentions was a pretty significant piece of work," he said.
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