The Forest Service on Friday proposed sharp reductions in the public’s opportunity to comment on forest projects in their final planning stages, echoing the Trump administration’s broader changes to environmental reviews across agencies.
In a notice published in the Federal Register, the Forest Service said scaling back public comment periods and limiting the number of pages allowed in predecisional objection periods would make for a more effective and efficient process to consider objections to projects.
Reviewing issues raised in public comments “is time consuming for both the public and agency staff, often resulting in lengthy documents and delays,” the Forest Service said. The agency is taking public comments until March 9.
At issue is the objection period immediately before the Forest Service makes a final decision on projects such as timber sales or forest restoration. Typically, only people or organizations that weighed in during a previous public comment period are allowed to submit objections at that point.
