Forest Planning Rule
Forest Planning Rule. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.
The USDA Forest Service unveiled its proposed Forest Planning Rule late last week which would establish a new national framework to develop land management plans that protect water and wildlife and promote vibrant communities. The proposed rule will be flexible and based on science to help preserve its health according to USDA Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.
VILSACK: A critical component to proper management is that there be a panning rule that can be utilized and provide a roadmap for how the over 150 forests that we have in our National Forest Service can in fact be managed properly to address both the current needs of the system but as well as the future needs. Individual forests and grasslands follow direction of a planning rule to develop, revise and amend land management plans specific to their specific location and unit.
He says this plan will also help connect people to the forests.
VILSACK: The proposed planning rule we believe is going to provide a collaborative and science based framework for planning in order to sustain and restore the health and resilience of our national forests. This proposed rule is going o provide a framework for land management planning, to restore the health and resilience of the ecosystems and watersheds to protect wildlife and respond to changing climate as well as connecting people more closely to our forested lands.
And he says that conservation is a crucial part of the plan.
VILSACK: There is a strong emphasis in this planning rule on enhancing and protecting water resources and providing functioning habitat. We’re also interested in making sure that we provide for the diversity of plant and animal communities in our forests. The goal is to keep common, native species common, contribute to the recovery of threatened and endangered species, conserve candidate species and protect species of conservation concern. At the same time we want to make sure that we require the management of these lands in the context of a broader landscape approach to better protect all our lands including our private working lands and waters.
Vilsack talks about protecting wildlife under the updated Planning Rule.
VILSACK: We’ve got essentially two approaches, one is sort of a broad brush approach – broad filtered if you will – that basically takes a look at the species that you would commonly and normally find in the forest and making sure that what you are doing in terms of maintenance and management of the forest contributes to habitats, supports that habitat. It really is very much focused on recognizing our responsibility to ensure biodiversity within the forests.
That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
