The U.S. Forest Service issued a final rule that updates the agency’s special-use regulations in alignment with Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue’s memorandum increasing the productivity of national forests and grasslands.
The updated rule seeks to enhance electric grid reliability, reduce wildfire risk in electric transmission and distribution rights-of-way, and lower the costs of delivering electricity to American homes and communities.
The updated rule will provide consistent direction to Forest Service staff when coordinating with utility companies for routine removal of dead and dying trees that pose fire risk to powerline structures.
The agency is also reducing the time it takes to review and approve plans to manage vegetation around lines and facilities on national forests and grasslands as well as on abutting lands within rights-of-way for electric transmission and distribution lines.
