Family Business First - Federal Land Management
Family Business First
Issue Brief: Forest Service/BLM Land Management
In the 1980s, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spent several million dollars developing the integrated resource plans called for in the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). After a decade of failed attempts by federal land managers to implement these plans, the people who depend on a constant flow of goods and services from federal lands are bitterly disappointed by the federal agencies’ failures. Efforts to proactively address critical management issues have effectively ground to a halt due to conflicting laws, regulation, and the perception by many managers that Congress is no longer interested in managing these lands.
Our view:
- In 1994, approximately 400,000 acres of federal land burned in catastrophic forest fires. Over the last five years, it is estimated that enough timber died on federal land, as a result of forest insect and disease attacks, to build over 1.6 million average size homes. Little, if any, of that dead timber was salvaged or utilized to help meet America’s demand for solid wood products. The U.S. Forest Service recently testified that between 4 and 6 billion board feet of timber dies each year in our federal forests. In President Clinton’s FY 1996 proposed budget, the Administration called for a total timber sale program of 3.6 billion board feet, only 1.6 billion board feet will be salvage. Thus, we will accumulate an additional 1 to 2 billion board feet of dead and dying timber on federal land this year.
- In 1988, Congress authorized a timber sale program of nearly 10 billion board feet for the U.S. Forest Service and BLM. In comparison to the President’s FY 1996 budget request, which is a measly 3.5 billion board feet. Consequently, revenues from federal harvests have dramatically fallen off. Revenue reductions have been exacerbated by the agencies’ inability to meet the Congressionally directed timber sale levels. The agencies have fallen short of Congressional timber sale goals by as much as 40 to 50 percent in each of the last six years. Administratively imposed rules and modifications to forest plans, such as the President’s forest plan for the Pacific Northwest, have also significantly reduced expected revenue outputs. According to Timber Data Company, the sale of timber at current forest plan levels (7.5 billion board feet) could generate more than $1.9 billion in revenues to the federal government. By comparison, the program only generated $504,000 in FY 1994.
- A combination of federal laws and regulations, all with conflicting objectives, have so entangled land managers that it is nearly impossible to propose a federal land management project without risking violation of some law or regulation. Those who wish to stop all active management on federal lands have effectively used the courts to frustrate nearly all efforts to manage these lands. The health of our federal forests is in decline. Existing law, regulation, and policy make it nearly impossible to deal with the insect and disease challenges currently faced on federal forests. Forest plans, the result of millions of dollars of expense, and hundreds of thousands of hours of public input, are being cast aside through administrative fiat.
Action:
Family Business First believes Congress should undertake a complete review of natural resource law, regulation and policy to identify conflicts that prevent effective, timely management on federal forest lands. Upon completion of this review, Congress must modify these laws to ensure federal land managers can act to enhance the health of our federal forests. Congress must also put into place laws which ensure forest plans are implemented in a timely, productive manner.
Back to WoodCom
Back to Family Business First