UPDATED MARCH 20 - FS Planning Rule Meeting Update (including CA meetings March 21)

FS Planning Rule - Alt. A

As some of you are preparing for the upcoming Forest Service Planning Rule meetings next week, HQ wanted to give you some background information on this issue. The public meetings next week (with no opportunity for formal public comment) are simply a way for the agency to comply with NEPA requirements (and spend a lot of taxpayer monies that could be used for more practical efforts such as trail maintenance, trail planning, or do the required NEPA for permitted events).

Here are the CA Meetings on March 21 – All Meetings are 9:00 a.m. til Noon

*** Be sure and recheck the locations for the FS Planning Rule Public Meetings. It appears the agency updated the national meeting schedule late Friday afternoon shortly after HQ posted its blog. The agency changed the Sacramento location to a new location about ½ north of the original location. The new Sacramento location is:


NEW LOCATION
Garden Pavilion Hotel
5640 Dudley Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95652


Angeles National Forest
Forest Supervisor’s Office
701 North Santa Anita Ave.
Arcadia, CA 91006

Shasta -Trinity National Forest
Forest Supervisor’s Office
3644 Avtech Parkway
Redding, CA 96002

HQ’s initial impression from reading the DEIS is it basically ignores the agency’s congressionally directed multiple-use mandate and makes that historic agency mission subservient to “preservation” and ecological sustainability. Also, the plan’s self-imposed requirements to maintain species viability will trump traditional multiple-uses.

Lastly, there are a lot of new terms that have not been legally or congressionally defined (e.g.. connectivity, ecosystem diversity, sustainable recreation, viable species population, etc) that will set the agency up for an avalanche of taxpayer-funded eco-lawsuits.

Again, HQ believes that traditional multiple-uses of public lands (recreation, timber, grazing, permitted events and activities, etc.) will be trumped by, and made subservient to, environmental tenets if a different (pro multiple-use) alternative is not selected.

VARIOUS INFO ON THE FS PLANNING RULE DEIS AND MEETINGS

FS Planning Rule Homepage with Meetings, DEIS, etc.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPwhQoY6IeDdGCqCPOBqwDLG-AAjgb6fh75uan6BdnZaY6OiooA1tkqlQ!!/dl3/d3/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnZ3LzZfMjAwMDAwMDBBODBPSEhWTjBNMDAwMDAwMDA!/?ss=119987&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=&navid=091000000000000&pnavid=null&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&ttype=main&pname=Planning%20Rule%20Home

Video to Watch Regarding Planning Rule
http://www.youtube.com/user/usdaforestservice#p/a/u/0/ynkEWh42roo

Planning Rule DEIS Summary (Good Overview)
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5274118.pdf

February 14, 2011 BRC Alert on the FS Planning Rule
http://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/?alert=1300


February 16, 2010 BRC Scoping Comments on the FS Planning Rule (Good read – focus on BRC concerns E through S)
http://www.sharetrails.org/public-lands/?section=FS_Planning_Rule2

The important thing to remember is that a lot of national and regional multiple-use and recreation groups will be weighing in with written comments during the formal comment period and you should consider sending in your own comments as well. Be sure and send the Recreation HQ some feedback if you attend one of the planning rule meetings in CA or elsewhere.

Thanks for your continued support and involvement!