Does this third court rejection of Bush national forest rules put a stake through its heart?
The 2005 Bush revision of the rules for national forest planning were especially aimed at ignoring wildlife even though the law — the National Forest Management Act of 1976 — required plans to provide for species viability. That meant that projects on the forest would not be allowed to harm any species of fish or wildlife so that its population would no longer be viable.
Now after years of fighting, hopefully the Service will return to the 1982 rules implementing NFMA. This decision will have far reaching effects.
Judge Tosses Bush-Era Forest Management Regulations. By Noelle Straub. Greenwire in the New York Times.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
