portation Road and Trail System.
I am also trying to figure out if
that omission aligns with recent
statements from new appoin-
tees U.S. Secretary of Agricul-
ture Brooke Rollins and Forest
Service Chief of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture (USDA) For-
est Service Tom Shultz. "Work-
ing with our partners, we will
actively manage national forests
and grasslands, increase oppor-
tunities for outdoor recreation,
and suppress wildfires with all
available resources, emphasiz-
ing safety and the importance
of protecting resource values,"
Shultz said in a press release.
I continue to question the
practical value of this multi-state
regional planning document—
which affects the 19.4 million
acres of federally managed
forests in Northern California, Or
-
egon and Washington—given the
critical staff shortages and other
factors that severely limit the
agency from implementing cur-
rent on-the-ground forest health
and recreation projects.
After attending a Forest Service
Planning Rule public meeting in
2014, I noted that the agency had
received a lot of input regarding
developed recreation and travel
management, and that a portion
of the planning efforts should
be enhanced. In addition, there
seemed to be consensus that
planning efforts should be on-the-
I
t is not often that I am at a loss
for words when it comes to
making recommendations on
the U.S. Forest Service's planning
efforts that affect public access
to high-quality trail-based recre-
ation opportunities and related
forest-management programs.
However, over the last three to
four weeks in preparing to submit
a formal public comment on the
draft Environmental Impact State
-
ment (DEIS) for the Northwest
Forest Plan (NWFP) amendment
by the March 17, 2025 deadline,
I am having trouble articulating
my ongoing concerns about the
plan's truncated timeline and how
it failed to analyze—as a signifi
-
cant issue—the Recreation/Trans-
P124
CN IIOPINION
BY DON AMADOR
TOO
BIG TO
FAIL?
NORTHWEST FOREST
PLAN AMENDMENT
The USDA Forest
Service is on the
brink of finalizing
its future land-
management
plans for federally
managed forests in
the Northwest area.
