The U.S. Forest Service today released its proposed land and resource management planning rule, which will govern the way the agency manages the nation's 155 national forests and 20 grasslands. The proposed planning rule retains many of the basic principles from the 2000 rule, but provides two options to address the issue of "species viability". The first option maintains the status quo by mandating that viability be assessed for all sensitive species and that habitat management projects may not be initiated unless the agency can show that these projects will not have a negative effect on those species in question. The second option requires that the agency maintain the diversity of habitats and ecological conditions deemed necessary to protect and enhance the breadth of forest resources, which has the potential to expedite the planning process. In conjunction with the release of the proposed rule, the Forest Service is issuing a comprehensive study of the costs of land and resource management planning. The study predicts the proposed 2002 planning rule will save roughly 30 percent from the 2000 rule.

The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register in December and will include a 90-day public comment period. The proposed rule and related documents are available at www.fs.fed.us/emc/nfma.