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County leaders ask Forest Service to withdraw

By
Alexis Barker, News Editor

Commissioners submit letter of dissatisfaction about old-growth forest management
 
During a special meeting on Feb. 2, the Board of Weston County Commissioners approved a letter to the U.S. Forest Service expressing dissatisfaction with the “top-down one-sized approach to Old Growth Forests.” 
 
The letter was penned in response to a proposed Forest Service plan that would amend every national forest land management plan in the nation to create one overall strategy for managing old-growth forests. 
 
According to Dru Bower of Dru Consulting — a firm hired with public funds to address public concerns over public property — this would include both the Black Hills National Forest and Thunder Basin National Grasslands. The comment letter, prepared by Dru Consulting, was submitted on behalf of the commissioners and notes that the Forest Service manages approximately 15% of the total land in the county. 
 
“These resources are important for the livelihoods of residents and the attraction of those traveling through. Both the TBNG and BHNF are included as affected areas and subject to this USFS plan amendment effort,” the letter states. 
 
Only three of the five commissioners attended the meeting — Chairman Don Taylor, Commissioner Vera Huber and Commissioner Garrett Borton — but that represented a quorum of the board and the trio signed the letter on behalf of Weston County. It urges the “USFS to focus on the actual management needs of individual forests versus a top-down one-sized approach that does not promote the best management for our forests or produce the best results for our communities.” 
 
It further states that a “localized approach recognizes the vast differences between our national forests and the communities that live in and around them. The current Old Growth Plan Amendment process is being dictated as far from local forests as possible. Instead of collaboration, it cuts local governments out of the conversation. Instead of being locally

led, it is developed far from our nation’s forests. Instead of a conservation solution, the Old Growth Plan Amendment is a one-size-fits-all management prescription.” 
 
The letter concludes that the decision by the Forest Service to “hastily push” the amendment through the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, process in a shortened time frame while excluding counties as cooperating agencies in the effort will result in “a failed end product.” 
 
The county “implores the USFS to withdraw” the notice of intent and allow the management of the old-growth forests to be “appropriately managed at the planning level through the local Forest Land Use Plans.” 
 
“Should the USFS decide to move forward with the NEPA Process, they must, at the very least, recognize local government as cooperating agencies and allow them a seat at the table to meaningfully participate in the planning process in a cooperative and collaborative way as required by law,” the letter concludes, noting that Weston County wishes to participate as a cooperating agency. 
 
The letter acknowledges that the county also endorses both the comments submitted by the state of Wyoming and the Wyoming County Commissioners Association on the plan amendments. 
 
The controversial plan
 
On Dec. 19, the Forest Service published a notice of intent in the Federal Register to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to amend all 128 national forest land management plans to include “consistent direction to manage, conserve and steward old-growth forest conditions,” according to the press release on the department’s website. 
 
This move is “consistent with direction from President Biden in Executive Order 14072 to conserve and restore old and mature forests.” 
 
“Healthy, climate-resilient old-growth forests store large amounts of carbon, increase biodiversity, reduce wildfire risks, enable subsistence and cultural uses, provide outdoor recreational opportunities and promote sustainable local economic development. Land management plans provide direction for how national forests and grasslands are managed for their many uses, including conservation. The proposed amendment will use the best available science, including Indigenous Knowledge, to provide consistent direction related to old-growth forest conditions across national forests and grasslands,” a press release issued by the agency says. 
 

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