Post Register editorial board members are Jerry M. Brady,
publisher; J. Robb
Brady; Marty Trillhaase; and Dean Miller.
Policy for managing federal land agencies always
changes when a new president takes over,
regardless of the party in power.
But there should be a limit on administration
authority, especially when it seeks to force
federal land managers to accept policies they
know do not serve the best interests of the
forest and the range.
Case in point: U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale
Bosworth.
Bosworth should be a familiar name to Idahoans.
As a regional forester based in Ogden, Utah, he
made decisions for national forests in Idaho,
Wyoming and part of Nevada.
Idahoans knew him as a career forester who was
dedicated to maintaining healthy forests and
open dialogue.
Later as regional forester at Missoula, Mont., he
pushed to ban cross-country motorized travel
throughout his region.
His appointment to head the Forest Service a
year ago was seen as a hopeful sign of
moderation in the Bush administration.
But Bosworth now works under Undersecretary
of Agriculture Mark Rey. A former staffer for
the Republican-led Senate's public lands
subcommittee under Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho,
Rey is now on a campaign to undercut just
about every environmental law affecting the
public lands on the books. Rey is targeting what
he considers to be an excessive number of public
appeals of Forest Service decisions.
The way to handle that problem is to evaluate
each appeal on its own merits. The courts have
done so. But Rey doesn't don't like the answers.
He's getting Bosworth's help. Bosworth defends
the new thrust by saying that "these laws
constrict the ability of land managers to make
choices or to exercise broad discretion in
determining management of the forests."
What does Bosworth means by "broad
discretion"? There is no limit, and this initiative
restricts the public's ability to influence or
challenge land management decisions.
No question, the environmental code of the past
20 years forces Forest Service staffers to spend
too much time on paper work and too little out
in the field. But these environmental laws are
there to cope with the steady decline of land and
water during a period of decades. They are good
laws.
This doesn't sound like the Dale Bosworth
Idaho knew, the one with the decent
environmental record and respect for public
involvement. But it does sound like part of a
trouble pattern in the Forest Service.
Too many Forest Service employees sometimes
have to compromise their decisions because their
supervisors overrule them in the name of the
political expediency. Today, authority in every
major federal land agency is concentrated in the
hands of people who formerly represented
industry. So, for the dedicated Forest Service
employees, it comes down to a choice: play the
game and climb the career ladder - or seek a
transfer elsewhere.
Occasionally, someone opts out of the game.
Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of Regulatory
Enforcement, earlier this year resigned in
frustration because the EPA was not enforcing
anti-pollution rules against energy companies.
Bosworth might want to consider following
Schaeffer's example
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