y iNA,..,.v, Western Resources WE3AP-UP National forest resources planning J By lloU-noC. Monbeig Vashi!iton--ro you want to plan for tfif (utur of your own National Forest? if so, notify your local forest ranger, as 1 fa U.S. Forest Service (USFS) now ' lonj-ranse planning program goes into effect on Oct. 17. ; i'p to now, according the Chief II. i Max Peterson of the Forest Service, the Midlife managers and the timber managers pretty much "did their own I thing' in planning and managing their own" resource in each National forest. "Some National Forests had as uany as 20 separate plans," Peterson 1 Kid the press at a briefing on Sept. 20. ftiev weren't melded together into one 1 'le plan for the forest. Result: 1 I scraps- ' i th the new regulations that go into effect on Oct. 17, "we will, for the first i ime, be able to integrate planning for the use of all forest resources on the 187 ; million-acre National Forest System," ! Assistant Agriculture Secretary M. Rupert Cutler said on Sept. 13. previously, separate plans were made for separate resources or for planning ; Bits smaller than a National Forest. ; ruder the new regs, based on the I Sation-Forest Management Act of 1976 ' 3 acdsome earlier acts, there will be not I 1 only one integrated plan for each in- dividual forest, but each will also be ' Jinked into plans for the 10 regions of , the National Forest Service and to regional and national planning goals, Older said. Foreachof the 154 separate forests in ; the National Forest System interdisciplinary in-terdisciplinary teams will plan for the I management, protection and use of timber, range forage, fish and wildlife habitat, water management, wilderness, wilder-ness, outdoor recreation, mineral exploration and development, communities com-munities dependent on National Forests, as well as protecting each forest from fire, insect and diseases. A major if unstated goal is to prevent or to minimize scraps among competing ises of the National Forests. J The new long-range planning 1 program of the Forest Service will affect the West in particular, as 15J.800.0OO acres of the 187-million acre National Forest System are in the West. In addition 39 million acres of intermingled state and private lands rill be affected by it. KW.T'FROM PUBLIC, LOCAk GOVERNMENTS AND INDIAN'S The new regs make it very clear that the interdisciplinary teams which put ' together the regional and local forest plans must get input from the public "early and frequently," from other b federal agencies, states and local ? governments, Indian tribes and private If landowners adjacent to National 6 Forests. And among the purposes of the s regs is to protect and preserve for 7 American Indians their inherent right s of freedom "to believe, express and Kercise their traditional religions." ' The public is to be notified at least 30 days in advance thru the new s media of tarings, meetings and workshops 5 relative to the development of regional flans and at least 15 days in advance 4 relative to the development of plans for 8 be local forests. At least 90 days must allowed for written responses from thepublic on regional plans and at least i days for written responses from the is Public on local forest plans. it tk?0 016 re&ional and local offices of m FOreSt Service wiU compile lists of ;j Mividuals and groups interested in "fl Service plans. If you are, get on i "we lists, for those listed will be t totified of all public get-togethers relative to planning for the forests in 1 Jour neck of the woods. i Peterson told the press here on Sept. ( s 't would take at least "18 to 24 !i ""J5" to prepare the necessary draft aid final environmental impact (1 Elements (EIS) which must ac-iK ac-iK """"y each regional and local forest jf Following the publication of the jj a't EIS, the public will have three months to review it and offer changes m amendments. Mer the final EIS is filed with the ironmental Protection Agency the C, c wU1 have 30 days to study it e the Forest Service can take ns based on the selected alter-we alter-we in the EIS. Those who have fc clPated in the planning process, orally speaking, can appeal a plan, 'uieir appeal thru the Forest Service hi k ,systera is limited to issues cn have been already raised in ,Tltag in the past. Jhis is an effort "to prevent sandal sand-al ,from sandbagging the land Lawrence w- Hill, a USFS West mana8ement planner, told 0m Resources Wrap-up (WRW) on jrjj.pl But for due cause anyone can S 3 plan first thru the USFS IheFo Process- on which the Chief of rest Service is the final decision's, decision-'s, and then to the courts. Wekf'" coordinate plans at all government and with private He p ers- including Indian tribes. co0rdior!st Service plans to set up federal 8 comtnittees with other land wgencies. notably the Bureau of Start gement in the Interior ent. The regs provide that the regional foresters are to seek agreements with governors of each state to get the input of each state into forest plans. Charles R. (Rex) Ilartgraves director of the land management planning operation of the Forest Service, Ser-vice, told WRW on IV t. 5 he anticipated few conflicts with states because a number of states are doing interdisciplinary in-terdisciplinary or total planning on their own, and they welcome the coordinated effort. Notices of public meetings and planned actions will be sent not only to other federal agencies and to states but also to Indian leaders "whose tribal lands may be impacted and to the heads of county boards for the counties that are involved," the regs state. Every effort will be made to work out coordination agreements early, Ilartgraves Ilar-tgraves told WRW, to spot conflicts early and to try to resolve them. Hartgraves was asked how the Forest Service planned to protect Indians' In-dians' religious practices. "We want the Indians to help us identify areas or sites where religious rites take place and to work out agreements on those areas with the tribal councils," Hartgraves Har-tgraves replied. SKYERAL FACTORS AFK ECT1 G P I.A INC The plans will be based on national, regional and resource goals and objectives, ob-jectives, which, in turn will be developed by the Forest Service from periodic assessments of future supply and demand of renewable resources from both public and private forest and range lands. The Forest Service has received its direction to make such projections under the 1976 National ITnrt M-.r,nmrtl t 1 1 other laws passed in the early and mid-1970's. mid-1970's. The Forest Service admits that the new regs "tend to be slightly inflationary" in-flationary" because of their overall tendency to increase costs of managing the National Forest System. Costs of planning itself will go up between 1980-84. 1980-84. as the Forest Service plans to complete 30 forest plans annually in that period. Plans must meet a cost-efficient test "to the extent practicable." Hartgraves Har-tgraves told WRW on Oct. 5 a discount rate (or interest) would be established on capital ihestmerrts "'within the rtext month." Other sources outside of the Forest Service told WRW on Oct. 8 the Forest Serv ice, thru the Department of Agriculture, has recommended to the Office of Management and Budget that a 4 percent discount rate be used, but it is more likely to be in the 5-7 percent range. A major criticism of the regs was that they did not give adequate consideration con-sideration to mineral exploration and development and that "appropriate weighting" might not be given to minerals in the actual decision-making process. Hill told WRW on Oct. 5 that foresters find it difficult to work mining in with renewable resource uses in the National Forests. Howard Banta, the Forest Service's top minerals expert, told WRW on Oct. 9 his office is developing a check-list to be used by the minerals experts on the interdisciplinary teams. "Where there are minerals, we'll have our input," Banta confidently told WRW. The check-list on minerals will be part of a planning handbook which is now being put together by Hartgraves and is to be completed soon. In addition, ad-dition, USFS says 800 Forest Service employees are being trained to use the interdisciplinary planning techniques at its field headquarters in Fort Collins, Colo. The training started in September and will go on thru June 1980. TIMBER CUT The bottom line with such planning is always the timber cut that the Forest Service will allow on the National Forests. The White House ordered the Forest Service on June 11 to determine if the National Forests could provide more timber to try to slow escalating housing costs. Peterson told the press on Sept. 20 he is looking at ways to increase the timber sale offering target from 12.2 billion board feet in 1978 to about 15 billion board feet about two and a half years from now. Most of the higher cut is expected to come from old growth softwood timber on the West Coast and in Idaho and Montana. To do so, the Forest Service is staying with its longtime long-time definition of 20 cubic feet per acre per year in determining commercial timber. Environmental groups had sought to tighten it to 50 cubic feet in the new regs; they were unsuccessful. The Forest Service makes provision in the regs to protect the riparian ecosystem "for approximately 100 feet" from the edges of all perennial streams, lakes and other water bodies, to assure good water quality and fish habitat. This will reduce timber cut in these water border areas. "Conflicting demands for uses in these areas are escalating in the more arid parts of the West" where the riparian ecosystem is both scarce and fragile, the Forest Service stated in its discussion of the regs on Sept. 17. Peterson emphasized on Sept. 20 the timber cut in National Forests will follow "our non-declining yield-even-flow policy" altho both the Secretary of Agriculture and the Chief of the Forest Service have the discretionary authority to depart from it. The regs emphasize diversity of tree species, as well as plant and animal life; they include the so-called Church guidelines on clear-cuts, and they define the lands which are to be unavailable for timber production. The economic stability of local communities dependent on timber production is a major consideration when the Chief decides to depart from sustained yield. Flexibility is written into the regs to allow for local resource conditions. When openings occur in the forest as a result of timber cuts, the blocks and strips cut are to be shaped and blended with the natural terrain "to achieve aesthetic and wildlife habitat objectives ob-jectives to the extent practicable." Limits are set on timber cuts in one harvest operation according to geographic areas and forest types. For example, not more than 60 acres of Douglas fir may be cut in one operation in California, Oregon and Washington, and not more than 40 acres of most other forest types in the West, altho exceptions may be permitted by the regional forester. The regs provide for restocking lands within five years after final harvest, and for re-establishing vegetative cover on forest roads within 10 years unless the road is determined to be needed as an addition to the National Forest Transportation System.