The USDA Forest Service (FS) has launched an Agency-wide effort to improve processes related to Environmental Analysis and Decision Making (EADM). The goal of the effort is to increase the health, diversity, resilience, and productivity of National Forests and Grasslands by getting more work done on-the-ground through increases in efficiency and reductions in the cost of EADM processes.
The FS has explored opportunities to improve EADM for over thirty years. Why is this a priority now? Here are a few of the compelling reasons:
- An estimated 6,000-plus special use permits await completion nation-wide, a backlog that impacts more than 7,000 businesses and 120,000 jobs.
- Over 80 million acres of National Forest System lands need cost-effective fire and disease risk mitigation.
- The non-fire workforce is at its lowest capacity in years.
- The time it takes to environmental analysis has steadily increased, with an average of two years for an environmental assessment (EA) and almost four years for an environmental impact statement (EIS).
The USDA Forest Service (USFS) asked the National Forest Foundation (NFF) to assist in hosting ten EADM Regional Partner Roundtables across the country in February and March 2018 with the objective of collecting diverse partner feedback to inform EADM processes on local, regional and national scales. The NFF and USFS worked closely together to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the roundtables. The NFF prepared a summary report for each of the ten roundtables that capture themes related to challenges and barriers, desired outcomes, and strategies and solutions within each region as well as a national summary.
UPDATES FOR USDA FOREST SERVICE PARTNERS REGARDING EADM CHANGE EFFORT