116 



The Ruffed Grouse Society 



DEDICATED TO IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT 



FOR RUFFED GROUSE. WOODCOCK. 



AND OTHER FOREST WILDLIFE 



PO. Box 2 • Rice Lake. Wl 54868 

 (TLS) 234 8302 • Pax (715) 234-5051 



15 August 1996 

 The Honorable James Hansen 

 U.S. House of Representatives 

 2466 P.ayburn House Office Building 

 Washington, DC 20515 



Dear Representative Hansen, 



The Ruffed Grouse Society, established in 1961, is a nonprofit wildlife 

 conservation organization dedicated to promoting forest resource 

 stewardship through forest management. As the Forest Wildlife Biologist 

 for the Society I work closely with the staff of approximately 30 National 

 Forests in 24 states to further mutually-agreeable land management 

 initiatives. In addition, my responsibilities require that I interact on 

 a regular basis with personnel at the Regional Office and Washington 

 Office levels. 



On 12 June 1996 I provided written testimony for consideration during the 

 hearing of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands on the 

 U.S. Forest Service appeals process. In this testimony I called for the 

 elimination of the process whereby publics may utilize administrative 

 appeals to halt Forest- or project-level decisions. Recognizing that this 

 proposed solution may currently be politically untenable, I provide the 

 following comments in the hope that they may aid the Subcommittee as it 

 struggles to identify substantive changes to the appeals process that will 

 maintain the ability of the public to be fully involved in the management 

 of public lands without unduly burdening the Forest Service by forcing it 

 to respond to the misuse of the appeals process by those publics 

 philosophically opposed to the agency's multiple-use mandate. 



The tiered nature of the Forest Service decision-making process offers an 

 opportunity to drastically reduce appeals filed for little reason other 

 than to complicate land management planning. Each National Forest 

 functions under a Forest Plan that was developed with considerable public 

 input. Landscape- level issues such as land use allocation (wilderness, 

 old growth, intensive timber production, etc.), allowable sale quantity, 

 forest-type and age-class composition, forest fragmentation, etc..., are 

 all dealt with at length and with considerable input from various 

 publics as the Draft Forest Plan is developed. The Draft Plan is then 

 circulated for additional public comment prior to the preparation of the 

 Final Plan. 



