In 1982, regulations were set that required the National Forest Service to protect wildlife, especially since logging in old-growth forests were a big issue. In 1990, a Northwest forest plan greatly reduced logging in the region's old-growth forests on federal land. Now, changes are on the horizon. The national planning rule that governs individual national forest plans is about to change, and scientists and environmentalists say many of the changes are improvements, but it changes the way that wildlife is protected.
The plan, which covers all uses of forest(timber harvests, grazing, recreation and wilderness) is expected to become final in early March. However, conservationists say that the wildlife provision is the weakest. Niel Lawrence, an attorney with the Natural Resource Defense Council says that, "This plan is much less protective than the 1982 Reagan-era one on wildlife protection....this provision is the single strongest protection for the national forests, and the agency is not retaining it."
In 1982, the rule stated that the Forest Service was to manage fish and wildlife habitat so that the healthy populations of animals were well distributed through each forest. With the new provision, forest managers are required to maintain habitats. It is up to this one individual whether or not to give species any extra protection or not.
Brenda Halter-Glenn, who led the team that created the new national plan, said in an interview that the new measure was more realistic about wildlife protection. "The focus of this rule is on ecological conditions or habitat," she said. "Those are the things we think through our management actions we can affect. We can create or maintain or restore habitat, but we can't necessarily ensure that we have viable populations of all species (Shoof)." She also mentioned that there's a lot of accountability factored in, because they require forest managers to show them how they used science to make their decisions. But still, there's a lot of discretion. Scientists are saying that all native species should be protected and that the plan also should require monitoring populations of certain animals that are selected to get a sense of overall wildlife health.
.....I will finish this later!
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