County and governor criticize old-growth planning process

Both Governor Mark Gordon and the Crook County Commissioners have expressed displeasure with how the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has handled the process of changing how it manages old-growth forests.

“The State’s concerns about the process, timeline and substance of the National Old-growth Amendment (NOGA) persist, are in fact increasing, and have become indicative of why the Forest Service should perform its effort at a forest unit level, not on a national scale,” wrote the governor last week in a letter to Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

The county also shared negative thoughts with USFS in a letter that accompanied its signed memorandum of understanding to be a cooperating agency in the process.

“While we appreciate the opportunity to participate in the NOGA, we must state for the record this MOU is woefully inadequate,” the commissioners wrote.

“It is missing several key points for us to be the cooperator we expect and deserve under the federal NEPA process.”

Among the items the county says is lacking, the MOU does not include involvement in development of the proposed action or range of alternatives, review of the preliminary draft before the public and establishment of the timeframe.

“If this is really a ‘partnership’, why is one partner being hamstrung?” the commissioners wrote.

“The fact that this is a large amendment being driven entirely by the Secretary’s office does not alleviate the Forest Service’s requirement to follow the NEPA process as it interacts with cooperators.”

Governor Gordon, meanwhile reiterated Wyoming’s concern that every forest is unique in everything from wildlife to climate and treating all forests with one national proposal is “not only a disservice to the resource but evidently consigns the value of informed local commentary to the broad category of general public comment.”

Gordon noted a concerning pattern in the USFS’s handling of this matter, from excluding local governments from the list of entities actively being sought as cooperators; to the fact there was little response to requests for cooperating agency status from the state, counties and conservation districts until recently; to the understanding that cooperators will not be consulted on the alternatives or allowed to review drafts.

“These omissions reach beyond procedural blunders, they deviate from past Forest Service practice, seem to fly in the face of the traditional intent of the National Forest Management Act and demonstrate an indifference on the part of Forest Service personnel whose attitudes seem anchored in an express compulsion to meet an arbitrary, self-imposed and incongruous timeline,” the governor wrote.

The governor emphasized that Wyoming is united in its concerns about the process and shared his hope that USFS “will be allowed to meet us halfway”.

The new rules that will be implemented through the NOGA are expected to affect all National Forests in Wyoming, including the Black Hills.

According to the USFS, the mature and old-growth forest initiative is part of an “overarching climate-informed strategy to change the course of increased wildfires, combat climate-related impacts and help retain carbon.”

Mature and old-growth forests, says the USFS, offer, “biological diversity, carbon sequestration, wildlife and fisheries habitat, recreation, soil productivity, water quality and aesthetic beauty”, as well as reflecting diverse tribal, spiritual and cultural values, but are threatened by climate change.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDS) published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register on December 19 to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to amend all 128 national forest land management plans “to include consistent direction to manage, conserve and steward old-growth forest conditions.”