Bush Allows Forest Fire Control Without Species Consultation

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, March 24, 2004 (ENS) - The Bush administration has finalized new regulations that expedite forest thinning, burning and other fire control projects on public lands by eliminating the requirement that land management agencies consult with wildlife biologists to ensure protection for endanagered species. Biologists within the land management agencies will now decide whether or not there is likely to be an adverse effect.

Bush officials say the new rules will not reduce the level of protection for endangered species, but critics believe the decision reflects a far reaching White House policy to undermine and roll back protections for imperiled plants and animals.

The Agriculture, Interior and Commerce departments have signed agreements to implement the new regulations, which conservationists plan to challenge in federal court.

"The agreements we are announcing are the final step in implementing these new regulations that will allow land managers to better protect communities and wildlife habitat from catastrophic fires," Interior Secretary Gale Norton said. "At the same time, they will free our endangered species biologists from routine and often duplicative informal consultations and allow them to focus on proposed actions that are likely to have a more significant impact on listed species."

The new regulations weaken ESA compliance for forest thinning projects, a compromise administration officials say is warranted by the threat of wild fires. (Photo by John McColgan courtesy National Interagency Fire Center)

Regulations put in place by the Bush administration in December and the guidance announced Tuesday remove that obligation for actions that fall under the National Fire Plan.

Instead of consulting with either agency tasked with enforcing the Endangered Species Act, biologists within the federal land management agencies will make the initial determination of whether there is likely to be an adverse effect on listed species or habitat.

Administration officials say the regulation will allow federal land managers to better protect communities and wildlife habitat from catastrophic wildfires, and contend it will free up biologists to address projects that actually have an impact on threatened and endangered species.

The types of projects involved may include prescribed fire, mechanical fuels treatments, emergency stabilization, burned area rehabilitation, road maintenance and operation activities, ecosystem restoration and culvert replacement actions.

The agreements announced Tuesday provide a mechanism for training biologists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the Forest Service, to meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act and for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor implementation of the regulations.

"We have worked closely with the USDA and Interior Department to make sure this new process will help eliminate the chances of harming threatened or endangered species," said Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. "This proposed approach will allow our agencies to focus resources on those consultations that will have the greatest benefit for the species."

The Bush administration has sought to extend court ordered deadlines for designating critical habitat for 32 species currently under consideration, including Arizona's pygmy owl. (Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service )

But conservationists are far from convinced and see an inherent conflict in allowing the decision of impact to imperiled species to be made by agencies charged with approval of logging projects.

They contend the forest fire rules allow the Forest Service to designate virtually any project as a fire prevention activity, opening the door to hundreds, perhaps thousands of projects harmful to endangered wildlife.

A coalition of 11 conservation groups announced earlier this month their intent to block the rules in federal court.

The coalition says the Bush administration has failed to put forth any evidence to support its claim that the Endangered Species Act consultation process has ever hindered legitimate fire prevention projects. Nor has the administration produced evidence that the existing regulatory structure - which has been in place for nearly 20 years and with which every other federal agency must comply - is in any way incompatible with ongoing efforts to reduce wildfires, the conservationists say.