{
  "id": "RL32436",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32436",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 104374,
      "date": "2004-06-17",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T20:14:00.902552",
      "title": "Public Participation in the Management of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Lands: Overview and Recent Changes",
      "summary": "Historically, opportunities for public participation in the management of the federal lands\nmanaged\nby the Forest Service (FS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) increased over the years as\nthe statutes and regulations governing the lands were modernized, and the remaining federal lands\nbecame increasingly important to the public. Public participation in the management of FS and BLM\nlands derives primarily from four sources: (1) the relevant management laws, regulations, and agency\nguidance -- especially as to planning procedures; (2) the National Environmental Policy Act\nenvironmental review processes; (3) the Administrative Procedure Act; and (4) administrative and\njudicial appeals.\n  Recently, administrative changes have been made to the planning, environmental review, and\nadministrative appeals procedures to streamline them and make them more efficient. In addition,\nthe Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 ( P.L. 108-148 ) also seeks to promote efficiency in the\ncontext of hazardous fuels reduction projects by limiting the scope of environmental reviews and\nexpediting administrative and judicial review. The act also allows other authorities to be used,\nincluding new agency-developed \"categorical exclusions\" (agency procedures that eliminate formal\nenvironmental evaluations), and a new approach to considering \"extraordinary circumstances\" that\ncould reduce the number of environmental analyses and the associated opportunities for public input. \nThe FS may also place more of its management direction below the level of regulations, arguably\nmaking it more difficult for the public to obtain information, participate in management decisions,\nand perform oversight or seek enforcement.\n  Both the FS and BLM have changed their systems of administrative appeals. The FS has\neliminated appeals of plans, revisions, and amendments, unless the amendment is made as part of\na project decision. Instead, the FS has instituted a pre-decisional opportunity to object to a proposed\nplan. BLM has made fire-related project decisions effective immediately. This could result in\neliminating administrative appeals in favor of more costly judicial review, and a drop in appeals\nnumbers may result. A similar stance is proposed by BLM for grazing decisions.\n  Some applaud these changes as producing long-overdue efficiency and economy in agency\nprocesses. Others assert that the changes are closing the public out of management decisions for the\npublicly owned lands, and question whether the breadth and effects of some of the changes comport\nwith the spirit and letter of the governing laws. The extent to which recent changes in agency\nprocedures allow or preclude meaningful public participation in the management of these federal\nlands may raise questions of compliance with current statutory requirements, and may raise policy\nissues of either legislative or oversight interest to the Congress. This report discusses these issues\nand will be updated as circumstances warrant.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL32436",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "Environmental Policy"
  ]
}