Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment Revisions

On January 22^nd, 2004, the U.S. Forest Service announced sweeping revisions to the Sierra Nevada Framework, which directs the management of 11.5 million acres of California's national forest lands. The revisions will nearly triple the amount of logging by allowing the cutting of trees up to 30" diameter throughout the forest and limit safeguards for water and wildlife all over the Sierra.

The Forest Service released the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement & Record of Decision (ROD) for the revisions to the Sierra Nevada Framework through a new plan named "Forests with A Future”. This is another misleading title to go with “Healthy Forests Act” and “Clear Skies Initiative”.

The 2004 ROD is nothing short of a rollback to the California Spotted Owl Guidelines of 1993 and a return to the logging practices of 10 years ago. The Forest Service maintains that logging and selling large trees can offset the costs of reducing the fire risk. Actually, while timber sales may generate short-term revenue, there is a much greater cost in the long-term. The destruction of old growth forests, damage to at-risk wildlife habitat, water quality impacts, and loss of scenic values that negatively impacts tourism and recreation, the main economic engines in most Sierra counties are what is in store for the "Forests of the Future."

The plan to reduce the fire risk includes cutting large trees throughout the forest. If they really want to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires, the Forest Service should focus on reducing the most flammable fuels in the forest, known as surface and ladder fuels. Moreover, logging can increase fire severity by leaving behind highly combustible logging slash, while loss of tree canopy encourages the growth of flammable brush, increases wind speed and air temperature and decreases humidity in the forest, exacerbating fire conditions.

The Forest Service also asserts that the revisions will protect wildlife. In fact, the revisions significantly weaken grazing limitations and water quality protections, and increase the risk of stream bank and meadow erosion. This has the effect of destroying the habitat of the willow flycatcher, the Yosemite toad, and other aquatic species. Furthermore, increased logging of large diameter trees, combined with group selection allowed under the reactivated Quincy Logging Plan, will likely cause some species to be listed under the Endangered Species Act, such as the California spotted owl, fisher and the marten.

Finally, while the original Sierra Nevada Framework was based on 120 public meetings, and sound scientific analysis, no public meetings have been held on the Framework since fall of 2002. According to scientists who reviewed the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement it contains no new information that would warrant such a radical overhaul of the original 2001 Framework Plan.

On April 29, 2004 the appeal period on the Framework revisions ended. The Forest Service decided to cite the number of appeals (234 - claimed to be a record) as a significant reason to review the 2001 Framework Plan. In contrast, over 8,063 appeals were sent to the Forest Service opposing the 2004 Revision. This is a strong vote of protest against Bush's forest policy in California. It is a very unpopular and seriously flawed decision that should be immediately withdrawn. A decision on the appeals is expected in the fall of 2004, though the Revision is currently being implemented in the forest.

Instead of the Forest Service vision of “Forests with a Future”, conservationists prefer to have forests with a past - old-growth forests with a mosaic of uneven-aged trees and a diversity of tree species. Large, old trees provide the structure for a forest with a full range of plant and animal life. Its past contributes to present growth and future resistance to fire and protection of habitat for forest diversity.

Please visit www.sierraforestlegacy.org for more information and articles about the revisions to the Sierra Nevada Framework.