USDA Stonewalling Effort to Shed Light on Bush Rewrite of Nation's Forest Rules
Federal Court Rebukes Agency on Response to FOIA Request from Conservation Groups
(03/31/2004) - WASHINGTON – A federal court yesterday criticized the US Department of Agriculture and the US Forest Service for their response to efforts by Defenders of Wildlife and the Endangered Species Coalition to find out how and why comprehensive nationwide forest rules, drafted by an independent Committee of Scientists, were junked soon after President Bush took office. The groups had filed a FOIA request for documents pertaining to the decision to scrap the regulations amid concerns that they were tossed out so that more industry-friendly regulations could be crafted by former timber industry lobbyist Mark Rey, appointed by President Bush to oversee the Forest Service as Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment. Rey maintained there was not a single document in the Office of the Undersecretary pertaining to this major federal rulemaking process, a response the court deemed “inadequate” and which Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen called “laughable.” The Forest Service was also reprimanded for being so vague in its reasons for withholding nearly three quarters of the documents requested that neither plaintiffs nor the court could assess whether the withholdings were proper. <?php /* Download a copy of the court's opinion. */???>“The biggest rewrite of our nation’s forest management policies ever undertaken and the man responsible for it has no records whatsoever? Absolutely ridiculous,” said Schlickeisen. “As with Vice President Cheney’s energy task force, the inescapable conclusion is the Bush administration has something to hide.”
The National Forest Management Act regulations at issue dictate how the Forest Service manages our nation’s 192 million acre National Forest System. In 1997, an independent Committee of Scientists embarked on an effort to update the National Forest Management Act regulations. Two years later, they presented their findings, which formed the basis of regulations ultimately adopted by the Clinton administration. But just a few months into 2001, the Bush administration announced that they would be scrapping the science-based regulations and crafting new ones. Mark Rey headed up the effort and what has resulted is the most dramatic rewrite of our nation’s forest management regulations ever proposed. Gone are many of the common-sense conservation and protection measures the scientists had recommended. In their place are new provisions, mirroring no less than eight industry requests, that cut public and scientific input into the planning process, strip many key wildlife and environmental protections, and allow increased logging of the public’s forests.
“The already-strained credibility of the Bush administration on conservation issues took another hit today.; The federal court didn’t buy Mark Rey and the Forest Service’s line on this and neither should the public,” said Schlickeisen. “As in so many other areas, industry is driving the bus in the Forest Service and the result has been the dismantling of key conservation laws protecting our nation’s forests.” <?php /*Download a copy of the court's opinion.*/???>###
Defenders of Wildlife is one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and habitat, and was named as one of America's Top 100 Charities by Worth magazine. With more than 450,000 members and supporters, Defenders is an effective voice for wildlife and habitat. To learn more about Defenders of Wildlife, please visit www.defenders.org.
Contact(s):
Brad DeVries, (202) 772-0237William Lutz, (202) 772-0369
