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Here's the latest on Bush's attempt to turn back the clock to the days before Richard Nixon signed most of our modern environmental laws - and our work to make certain our National Forests do not fall victim to this regime.
"Indicator Species" Program at Risk in Klamath and Shasta-Trinity
In March, the Forest Service announced plans to slash its "management indicator species" (MIS) program in two Northwest California National Forests, aiming to eliminate research on 90% of the species currently covered by the program in the Klamath and Shasta-Trinity. These proposals are only the tip of the iceberg, with similar ones now emerging in California and the nation.
The MIS program was established to assess the effects of logging and other extractive activities, and to ensure that the Forest Service fulfills its mandate to maintain suitable habitat for well-distributed, viable populations of wildlife. The theory is that it would gauge the effects of its land use activities on rivers and streams, meadows, and forests by monitoring a range of species that "represent" these ecosystems, and whose health indicates the health of each ecosystem.
The Klamath's current MIS list includes 50 species, and includes fish, turtles, frogs, birds, and mammals. The Forest Service now wants to include only five species, and incredibly, three of these are trees--Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, and black oak. The list also includes the northern spotted owl and oak titmouse, but most disturbing is what's missing: aquatic species, amphibians, invertebrates, and mammals. Scientifically, the proposal is ludicrous; legally, it's dubious at best.
At press time, the Shasta-Trinity released its proposed plan amendment--which mirrors the Klamath's except that it leaves off the oak Titmouse. The Six Rivers and Mendocino National Forests have indicated they intend to submit similar proposals in the near future.
The Forest Service has not complied with MIS requirements in these forests for some time, and has failed to monitor the populations and trends of these species on a systematic level. In the absence of solid data, it has given rough estimates of both habitat suitability and the actual amount of habitat available, guessing at the current status of MIS, and thus, at the fate of all species that the MIS are supposed to gauge. As a result, a forest like the Klamath can wind up justifying its logging program by referring to a vegetation inventory last updated in 1976.
EPIC and our allies are challenging several timber sales in federal court due to, among other concerns, the Forest Service's failure to comply with its obligation to monitor for MIS. Environmental groups have challenged these violations across the nation, and won some important victories so far. The federal courts ruled in several cases that estimates alone are not sufficient, and the Forest Service must produce actual information about the status of MIS when it proposes to log or allow other activities that could harm them.
The Bigger Picture
The Bush Administration's gambit with MIS is intricately linked to its larger effort to gut the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), and in particular, its requirement to maintain self-sustaining, "viable" populations of native species. This "viability requirement" is a critical component of NFMA and has been a linchpin in environmental enforcement actions to protect ancient forests, fish, and wildlife. It is also the law which MIS regulations are designed to implement, and if proposed changes are actually put into effect, the legal requirement to have an MIS program could vanish.
EPIC is part of a coalition of organizations closely following this proposal and is poised to challenge these in court if and when it's needed.
Bush Dismantles Northwest Forest
On March 23, the Bush Administration made major revisions to the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) that could open logging in ancient forests and riparian areas throughout Oregon, Washington, and Northwest California. These attacks are aimed at the "Survey and Manage" and "Aquatic Conservation Strategy" programs and eliminate protection measures for rare wildlife and along salmon-bearing streams.
The 1994 NWFP was a "compromise" to guide management of more than 20 million acres of public land in the Pacific Northwest, including 5.7 million acres in Northwest California. The federal judge, Judge Dwyer, who required and approved the NWFP concluded the plan embodied the minimum level of protection for species dependent on ancient forests. In a later ruling, Judge Dwyer emphasized that its mitigation measures, particularly the "Survey and Manage" program, must be fully implemented for the NWFP to be a legally adequate plan for old-growth dependent species.
A different federal judge came to roughly the same conclusion on the Aquatic Conservation Strategy (ACS), which does for salmon and other aquatic species what the Survey and Manage program does for old-growth forest species. She ruled that the Forest Service must actually maintain and restore impaired watercourses, not simply claim that impacts from logging will be alleviated by other actions in the same watersheds.
The Bush Administration's changes to these programs would not only put potential habitat on the chopping block, but also known habitat that is now protected and closed to logging. In its own analysis, the Forest Service admits that 47 species are likely to be seriously harmed. Environmental groups' review suggests the number is more than 100. The agencies claim the species will be protected by shifting them into their toothless "sensitive species" programs, but have not actually included current Survey and Manage species in those lists.
The likelihood that species will be driven to extinction is just one of the many ways these changes violate our environmental laws. EPIC is working with other organizations to challenge these changes in federal court, and with your help, will block them and the overarching effort to turn the NWFP into a timber production machine.
Under the "Survey and Manage" program, surveys for rare species were required before logging operations began, and if found, small vestiges of old growth were left standing. These fragmented "islands" create problems for wildlife that need stretches of undisturbed land, but under Bush's Rules, even these would be eliminated.
GET INVOLVED!
Local, regional, and national conservation groups notified the Forest Service of their concern with this plan in a letter prepared by EPIC, but it will take a wide variety of citizen voices for the Forest Service to heed this call. Please help us ensure the Forest Service implements the MIS program as it should have long ago, and does not systematically dismantle it instead!
1312 Fairland Road
Yreka, CA 96097
Shasta-Trinity National Forest
3466 Avtech Parkway
Redding, CA 96002
