Keep your eye on the prize: Part 2

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In Part 2 of our Keep your eye on the prize interview we discuss the evolution of the current Beltway/Forest Service mess with our Forest Service retiree friend.

Evergreen: How on Earth did this mess unfold and when did it start?

Retiree: It's roots are in the 1990 spotted owl listing and the subsequent Clinton Northwest Forest Plan. It opened the door to frivilous litigation that increased the time required and costs associated with project planning. Then you reduce the budget by shifting money from forest management to wildfire fighting, creating a doom loop because less management equals more wildfire.

Evergreen: We've been writing about this conondrum for years but the only people who understand it are those living in rural timber communities in the West. But they don't have any political power so not much has changed on the ground in National Forests since 1990.

Retiree: The problem has been compounded by Forest Service budget custs and reductions in force - a well document problem well explained by the National Association of Forest Service Retirees in its 2019 report.

Evergreen: We have that report filed on our desktops. What happened to it?

Retiree: Nothing. Sonny Perdue, who was then Secretary of Agriculture, tossed it in the round file because it apparently offended some southern lumbermen and landowners who oppose the federal timber sale program because it competes with their products and timberland values.

Evergreen: Another topic we've written about. Viewed from 30,000 feet, what has been the impact on the Forest Service?

Retiree: As Congress reduced the agency's budgets, the agency was forced to combine management units and budgets while centralizing operations that had been well-funded at the District and Supervisory levels during most of my years in the field.

All of this was done to reduce costs, which has been proven not to happen. The myth of efficiency is touted but the results are the opposite. The unintended consequences are that the agency is now less nimble and gets less done.

Evergreen: And the downward spiral begins.

Retiree: The spiral accelerates along with expections that the Forest Service can and will do something about our wildfire crisis, boost thinning in federally-owned forests that serve multiple uses - timber production and tourism - but the agency can't do anything because the last three Administrations have cut its budget and tied its hands in unnecessary regulatory knots.

Evergreen: Do you see a pathway out of this mess?

Retiree: Yes, on the regulatory side but no on the political side. Political appointees and members of Congress anxious to polish their bonafides as the midterm elections approach. Some of them are poorly informed and others are unprofessional and, frankly, dishonest. The results are frequently toxic. The current government shutdown is the latest example.

Evergreen: Public dissatisfaction with Congress is reflected in polling data. Used car salesmen rank higher than members of Congress.

Retiree: I see it in what I read about non-agency forest users - the publics that recreate in federal forests or depend on them for their livelihoods. Local support for the Forest Service is falling fast.

Evergreen: People who live in rural areas are very angry about the fact tht the Biden Administration gave billions of dollars to NGO's that don't know anything about forestry, including some NGO's that openly oppose forest management. What's to be done about all this?

Retiree: As I said in our first interview, I believe the Trump Administration wants to do the right things but they're shooting themselves in both feet in a misguided effort to make the Forest Service more efficient. But Beltway decision making has destroyed the agency's transparency and its ability to serve its customers. The old agency that was publicly revered is gone.

Evergreen: You don't sound very hopeful

Retiree: At the moment, I'm not. But as I said, I believe the Trump Administration wants to do the right things, but they're headed in the wrong direction.