Editorial: Forest permits released

Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005 | 10:39 a.m.

U.S. Forest Service officials, displeased with a federal court's ruling to include more public comment on the agency's major projects, have been withholding permission for minor activities such as culling Christmas trees from national forests, including one for display at the U.S. Capitol.

But permits to cut holiday trees in national forests will be issued now that a U.S. District Court judge has clarified a July 2 ruling that had aggravated federal officials and prompted suspension of permits for dozens of activities in national forests.

In the July 2 ruling, U.S. District Judge James K. Singleton, of the Eastern District of California, wrote that the U.S. Forest Service needed to allow public comment and appeals on such activities as prescribed burns, timber sales, gas and oil exploration and off-highway vehicle trails, which had been excluded by new forest management rules adopted by the Bush administration in 2003.

The ruling came from a 2003 lawsuit filed by environmental groups that challenged the harvest of burned trees from California's Sequoia National Forest. The harvest had been approved without public comment under exclusions set forth in the Bush administration's revised rules.

In what seemed a blatant retaliatory move designed to create widespread public outrage and show the agency's dissatisfaction, Forest Service officials responded by immediately suspending permits for nearly 1,500 activities, including permits for individuals who wanted to pick wild mushrooms, gather firewood or cut down their Christmas trees.

The agency suspended the permit for harvesting the 80-foot spruce in New Mexico's Santa Fe National Forest that will serve as the national holiday tree in Washington this year.

The move also suspended indefinitely a program that allows access for disabled hunters and prevented guided hunting, fishing and river trips and horseback rides on which people's livelihoods depend. If it had continued, the suspension would have prevented new owners of an existing California ski area from opening on schedule.

In the clarification he issued Wednesday, Singleton wrote that minor activities were never intended for inclusion in his original ruling, but the Forest Service still needs to take public comments and consider appeals for such major projects as timber sales, prescribed burns and exploration for gas, oil or minerals.

It is unfortunate that the Forest Service reacted with pettiness to the public's original request for more input into the management decisions made on public land. It shows, once again, that the Bush administration is willing to do whatever is necessary to operate without question or public accountability.