U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Randy Moore on Jan. 7 issued a memo detailing his decision to withdraw the agency’s National Old Growth Amendment Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
“While this letter reflects lessons learned at the national level, decisions on maintaining or restoring old growth forest conditions so they are resilient and persist into the future will be made at the local level, informed by the best available science, public engagement, contributions from cooperating agencies, and consultation with Tribes,” Moore said.
The Public Lands Council (PLC) applauded the move. “We are pleased to see that the Forest Service has abandoned their ill-conceived plan amendment process,” said PLC Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover in a statement. “In one fell swoop, the Forest Service would have taken decades of work to prevent pinyon juniper encroachment and turned it on its head, penalizing the very people who prevented total woody conversion of grasslands and rangelands.”
