Welcome to the Western Montana Planning Zone Web Site!
Court Ruling on the 2005 Planning Rule
On March 30, Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of California enjoined the Forest Service
from implementing the 2005 Planning Rule. The Court held that
the Forest Service violated the Administrative Procedures Act
(APA), for not adequately involving the public in developing
the 2005 Planning Rule; the Endangered Species Act (ESA), for
not properly consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), by improperly
applying a categorical exclusion and not fully evaluating the
environmental impacts in promulgating the 2005 Planning Rule.
The court remanded the decision to the Department of Agriculture
for compliance with the APA, ESA, and NEPA. The Bitterroot, Flathead,
and Lolo National Forests will not release land management plans
or begin objection periods until issues related to this court
decision are resolved at the national level.
For more information please visit our National web site at:http://www.fs.fed.us/emc/nfma/2007_planning_rule.html. This
site will be updated as information becomes available.
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Western Montana Forest Planning Zone
The Bitterroot,
Lolo, and Flathead
National Forests are revising their land management plans
to reflect new scientific information as well as natural and
social changes that have accumulated since the original plans
were prepared, in the 1980s. |
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