Congressman Mike Simpson, Chairman of the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee, joined his colleagues in writing to Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack expressing concern over the Proposed National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule. Members fear the language in the proposed rule will result in an abundant of unnecessary lawsuits at the cost of the taxpayer.

“The Forest Service should be issuing clear, concise and less cumbersome rules to manage our natural resources effectively,” said Simpson. “Instead, this rule would make local management decisions much more difficult, and I am confident that it would only create a slew of frivolous lawsuits, costing taxpayers millions at a time when we are working to rein in spending and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent efficiently and for their intended use.”

In February, the United States Department of Agriculture released a proposed planning rule, “National Forest System Land Management Planning” (36 CFR Part 219 RIN 0596-AC94) to guide land and resources management for all units of the National Forest System (NFS) under the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976. The proposed rule sets forth process and content requirements to guide the development, amendment, and revision of land management plans of the nation’s 155 national forests and 20 grasslands. This is the fourth attempt to implement a new planning rule since 2000 and the proposed rule, as written, would likely be devastating to the multiple uses currently on NFS lands.

“I’m particularly concerned about the viability provision in the proposed rule that requires the Forest Service to survey every species—vertebrate and invertebrate—in the National Forest System,” said Simpson.  “Not only does this provision alone stand to bog the agency down with litigation, but it is simply impossible for the agency to implement in the current budget environment.”

The letter outlines the Members’ concern over many provisions included in the proposed rule and request it be amended or removed prior to releasing the final rule. A copy of the letter is on Congressman Simpson's website.