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Show SOUTHESN UTAH NEW3 Opinion 4 WEDNESDAY MARCH lS.im Guest Editorial The ex-Chie- fs By Jack Ward Thomas The Forest Service has a reputation among scholars of government as a superstar agency-th- e can do agency. A clear vision of what the Forest Service is to do rests with elected officials. advice be diverted from higher priorities. Micromanagement from above the Chiefs level is even more disconcerting. Direct orders from Agriculture Depart- ment and administration levels to the Forest Supervisors that bypass lines of authority produce confusion, consternation, inconsistency, embarrassment, and a breakdown in discipline and order. Appointed officials should set policy and hold the agency responsible to carry it out. Mixing of policy and execution functions produces disorganization. As downsizing proceeds, the administration and Congress tend to increase centralized control. That is a mistake. During downsizing, managers need more flexibility, not less. The heart of government was decentralization of authority and encouragement of innovation. These problems lead to a tendency to scapegoat employees for their performance under the That vision must be produced by a bipartisan effort. Only a unified drive could clarify the muddy morass of uncoordinated laws, regulations, shining polity direction, budget decisions, overlays in agency responsibilities, disagreements between Congress and administration and inconsistent court actions that combine to guide the agency. Since my retirement as Chief oftheU.S. Forest Service in late November, numerous interviewers have asked, What are the primary problems that you faced. Among those were: 1. Lack of clear mission. 2. Operating under laws that mesh poorly with effects exacerg bated by responsibilities of severa l agencies and a wide-rang- e of sometimes con- situation described earlier. decisions. court fusing Though politically convenient, 3. Micromanagement", in other it is inexcusable over the long words politicization of agency term. activities by' Congress' and poThe seeds of failure lie in the litical appointees. worsening situation that has 4. Continued downsizing with been allowed to drift for over inadequate consideration of two or more decades. Federal what is expected of the Forest courts have been reluctantly Service. thrust into this vacuum to inter5. Demonization of the Forest pret intent of the mismash of Service by extremes in the de- law, regulation, regulating acbate over public land manage- tivity and poorly related court ment. opinions. Such problems can be adScapegoating has helped fosdressed through bipartisan ac- ter increasing violence against tion over the next two years. personnel and property. ForWhy now? est Service folks continue to Republicans gained House and do their best and wait for cries Senate control in 1994- - partially of outrage and effective refrom a backlash again st extreme sponse from political leaders. environmentalism. Some per- Enough! ceived a mandate to dismantle It is time to address underenvironmental laws and public lying problems and eschew poland ownership. They failed and litical temptation to wag Ansuffered for the effort. gers at the executors of conIn the mean time, Democrats fused policy, judicial mandates maintained that no problem ex- and divided management auisted except compliance with the thority. laws. Both were wrong. The national forests and Problems are worsening. It is grasslands, all 194 million time to face reality. Maybe the acres, are our lands. This heritime has come for a bipartisan tage is unique in the world. We overhaul of the laws that effect all have a stake in those prethe Forest Service. cious lands. In addition, Some would take advantage by Congress inhibits ra- of current confusion and turtional management-particu-larl- y moil to devolve these lands into during downsizing. For other ownership or control. I example, the Forest Service have little doubt as to what such must have clearance from six a move made in the name of separate congressional com- efficiency today would produce mittees to close a ranger dis- over coming decades. trict or to combine two of them. Almost as threatening is the The agencys budget requires temptation to political figures, spending on pet congressional facing the consequences of govprojects causing resources to ernment operations under a bal- out-of-da- te over-lappin- micro-manageme- nt anced budget scenario, to use national forest lands or timber as trading stock to achieve pressing objectives of the moment. The National Forests were put together too laboriously, meticulously and expensively over a century to be dismantled piecemeal to accomplish political objectives of the moment. This precedent is politically seductive but potentially disastrous over the long term. The men and women of the Forest Service are among the best in the world at what they do. They need only a clarified mission and adequate flexibility to be the superstars they have been for a century. The people of the Forest Service can and should be conservation leaders for the third millennium. They can-bonly if the described problems are forthrightly addressed. That can be done. But it requires leaders with a clear vision, and the guts to take on such a contentious subject. The Forest Service has a new leader-th- e 14th chief in a long line. Michael Dombeck is green a career professional with extensive Forest Service experience. He packs all the gear. But he 'needs help. Steering a ship with a malfunctioning rudder and too many is excruciatingly difficult. I know from experience. He, the Forest Service and the American people deserve better. ut riit See LETTERS, Page 5 - . ; , vti.-'- u VU -- it ISireAomtsi SOUTHERN UTAH NEWS Shefceo?; AAA Deadlines AAA FRIDAY n 1 PM urns? The Southern Utah News (ISSN No. 0049-165is published every Wednesday at 26 N. Main St.. Kanab. Utah 84741 . The SUNews serves Kane County . Utah, and the Arizona Strip. Address communications to 26 N. Mam St., Kanab. Utah 84741 , or telephone 801 Fax 801 Advertising rates available upon request Second Class postage paid at Kanab. Utah 84741. Newsstand price 50 per copy. Yearly subscription rates to Kane County addresses and Fredonia and Moccasin Arizona. $22; others $30 (out of U S. The SUNews reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement $50). or submitted items. 9) 44-2900, 44-2926. 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