Forest Restoration Agreement Reached

Forest thinning has been a flashpoint for controversy in New Mexico and other Western states for years, with environmental groups sometimes challenging the Forest Service. Now, both sides have agreed on a set of forest restoration guidelines

Environmentalists, the Forest Service and business interests have reached a peace treaty of sorts over tree-cutting projects.Forest thinning has been a flashpoint for controversy in New Mexico and other Western states for years, with environmental groups sometimes challenging the Forest Service.

Now, both sides have agreed for the first time on a set of forest restoration guidelines for New Mexico that they say will greatly reduce conflicts and lawsuits over thinning and other timber projects here.

"These are groundbreaking," said Jerry Payne, bioenergy specialist for the Forest Service's Southwest region.

State Forester Butch Blazer said he expects "significant reductions in time lost" to red tape. He said the principles could be used by other Southwestern states.

If the Forest Service and other agencies follow the principles, "the chances are much, much lower" they'll find themselves in hot water, said Todd Schulke of the Center for Biological Diversity.

WildEarth Guardians, which has gone to court over thinning projects, agrees that following the guidelines would "greatly" cut the likelihood of challenges, said Bryan Bird, forest program director for the Santa Fe-based environmental group.

"Getting WildEarth Guardians and the Sierra Club on board marks a big step forward," Schulke said.

A task force representing 12 groups in New Mexico spent more than a year hammering out the guidelines after Public Service Company of New Mexico asked how it could get a steady source of fuel- about 735 tons a day- for a 35-megawatt biomass plant.

Next week, the group will ask the Public Regulation Commission to adopt the principles to guide future biomass projects.

"If there aren't workable guidelines, what's likely to happen is controversy, litigation, who knows?" said Marc Christensen, director of corporate communications for PNM. "And that could retard development of a biomass industry in the state."

Although PNM believes a biomass plant should be part of a broader forest restoration effort, the principles give the company more certainty it could find a reliable supply of woody material.

The 18 restoration principles represent a compromise between the groups and include such things as collaboration, using the least-disruptive techniques, and sensitivity to ecosystem and habitat conditions.

They are endorsed by the Forest Service and three other federal agencies, the state Land Office and Forestry Division, five conservation groups, PNM, and Restoration Solutions, a Corona tree-cutting company.

"We can turn a corner and get essentially through the environmental wars and do good forest restoration," Payne said.

Each side got things important to them in the principles, Payne said.

For example, the environmental community won a commitment from the agencies to strive for no net increase in forest roads. If a new road is absolutely necessary, an existing road would be closed to compensate, Payne said.

For the Forest Service, it was important the principles did not cap the size of trees that can be cut. One principle does call for preserving big, old trees but allows flexibility.

Another important principle calls for prioritizing areas that need restoration by fire risk, proximity to developed areas and important watersheds, and protection of old-growth forests and rare species, Schulke said.

Payne said he expects the guidelines will be used on at least 80 percent of Forest Service projects in the state, and district rangers who ignore them will know they're more likely to face a challenge.

Had the Forest Service included these same principles in its 17,000-acre Tajique thinning plan in the Manzano Mountains in 2004, for example, the project might not be stalled now, Schulke and Bird said.

In that case, WildEarth Guardians and local residents filed an administrative objection over concerns, including road building and the potential for big trees to be cut.

Copyright 2006 Albuquerque Journal - Reprinted with permission


 

All active news articles