THE TIMBER RESOURCE

A summary of introductory materials and recommended supplemental readings.

-- the next update of this page should include discussion of the Salvage Timber Rider.
-- as reported in Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law: 1995, The Year in Review, by the ABA SONREEL and the National Energy-Environmental Law & Policy Center at the University of Tulsa College of Law, at p. 285, 323, etc.
-- the Rescissions Act of 1995, 109 Stat. 194, signed into law July 27, 1995, contains Section 2001 which includes provisions establishing the Emergency Salvage Timber Sale Program directing the award and release of certain previously offered timber sales -- those in Washington and Oregon subject to Section 318 ( of the DOI & Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1990, 103 Stat. 745). This program has been labeled "logging without laws" by environmental groups -- it prohibits courts from issuing a restraining order, preliminary injunction or injunction pending appeal. Sect. 2001 (f), 109 Stat. at 244.

History and Overview

Section B addresses traditional management, the "multiple use, sustained yield" mandate. The Multiple Use Sustained Act of 1960 did not resolve the clear cutting controversy of the 60's and the early 70's, which climaxed in the Monongahela decision in 1975 (an injunction stopping clear cutting in the national forest of that name) W. Va. Division of Izaak Walton League of America, Inc. v. Butz, 522 F.2d 945 (4th Cir. 1975).

Section C looks at modern forestry management and related laws of the 1970's:

1. stricter judicial review now exists
2. legislation is more particular
3. multiple issues must be addressed, eg. NEPA requirements as well as National Forest Management Act of 1976 requirements.

Issues of concern

• preserving old growth forests
• creating wilderness areas
• protecting wilderness areas
• stopping clear cutting
• stopping below cost sales

Forest Service Autonomy

Clear cutting practice lead to public outcry and congressional legislation -- a number of statutes now restrict FS discretion and actions.

Statutory Framework:

• Organic Act of 1897 - 2 primary purposes held to be protecting timber and water resources United States v. New Mexico - language in the Act leads to result of the Monongahela case, halting clear cutting.
• Weeks Act of 1911 - authorized FS to purchase cut-over lands in the East. In the 30's this extended to cut-over lands in the high plains region -- national grasslands created.
• Multiple Use and Sustained Yield Act of 1960 - gave the mandate to manage five resources in the N.F. in perpetuity as a "harmonious combination "
• National Forest Management Act of 1976 - focused attention on planning activities in the National Forests.
• N.E.P.A - 1969 - major impact on FS programs due to E.I.S requirement
• Clean Water Act of 1972 - again major impacts on FS activity because siltation/sedimentation of streams of pollution
• Endangered Species Act of 1973 - a primary restraint on FS activity because of mandate of habitat protection for T&E species ( N. Spotted Owl).

I.     Development of Planning for the National Forests and the Public Domain.

  A.   National Forests (section contains a synopsis of the following acts)
       1.   MUSY Act 1960
       2.   Wilderness Act 1964
       3.   NEPA 1969
       4.   ESA 1973
       5.   Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Protection Act  (RPA) 1974
       
  B.   Public Domain (BLM) Lands
       1.   Taylor Grazing Act 1934
       2.   Classification and Multiple-Use Act 1964
       
  C.   Origins of NFMA and FLPMA
       1.   NFMA
       2.   FLPMA

II.    Planning Provisions of NFMA and FLPMA

  A.   NFMA: 16 USC  1600 - 1614, etc.
       1.   Procedural requirements:
                 Inventory, planning levels, integrated forest plans
       2.   Substantive requirements:
                 Species diversity, soil and water protection, land suitability, harvest
            scheduling, clearcutting, minimum management requirements

  B.   FLPMA: 43 USC  1711 -1713, 43 CFR Part 1600.
       1.   Procedural requirements:
                 Issue identification, inventory, development of alternatives, selection of
            resource management plan 
       2.   Substantive requirements:
                 Identify areas of critical environmental concern, compliance with pollution
            standards, intergovernmental coordination (consistency with state and local land
            use plans ... to extent possible under federal law), prevention of undue
            degredation.

III.   Agency Implementation

  A.   Planning Levels
  B.   Appeals Procedures
  C.   Interrelationhsip with Other Statutory Obligations
  D.   Cost Effectiveness
  E.   Plan Amendment and Revision   

IV.    Reflections on the Future

  A.   Lessons from the Past
       1.   Unrealistic expectations for the planning process
       2.   Lack of scientifically credible estimates of env't'l effects
       3.   Lack of ecological approach to planning
       4.   Failure to integrate planning with other legal requirements
       5.   Proliferation of administrative appeals

  B.   Suggested Reforms
       1.   Independent scientific review panels
       2.   Shift to ecologically defined planning areas
       3.   Focus on environmental effects and not economic efficiency
       4.   Allow for inevitable scientific uncertainties while allowing plans to evolve
       5.   Learn lessons from local land use planning

FOREST LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN PROCESS
by N. Diaz and D. Apostol:

This is a 1992 USDA Forest Service publication which addresses the problems noted above. The authors describe a new method of analysis and design, as influenced by British foresters, combining aesthetic and utilitarian objectives. They also note that it is difficult to implement new methods of management in a period of declining resources.

Greene, P., and Apostol, D. (1995, April). Design for Biodiversity, Landscape Architecture, vol. 85, no. 4, 62-65.

The authors discuss their new methods for analysis and design in the Mt. Hood National Forest (near Portland, Oregon) under the Clinton Administration mandate of ecologically-based planning and management -- the new mandate for national forests is to "preserve the integrity of the ecosystem", which calls for watershed-based planning and preservation of habitat for numerous species. The ecosystem management paradigm calls for the application of science (landscape ecology and conservation biology), and replaces the "zoning"-for-dominant-use method of the past.