A Smoke Signal on Forest-Fire Management

Fighting fires should include overturning the Ninth Circuit’s 2015 Cottonwood ruling

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"The main culprit for raging fires in Canada and the U.S. is resistance by environmentalists to thinning overgrown forests. While a forest management awakening has occurred in government in recent years, U.S. Forest Service officials are hamstrung by the 2015 Cottonwood decision.

That decision requires the agency to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service on its land management plans whenever a new endangered species is listed or a “critical habitat” is designated. There are more than 1,300 species listed as threatened or endangered, and green groups push for new listings.

Cottonwood’s consultation requirement buries officials in paper and delays urgent management projects. It also conflicts with a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision. This means the Forest Service may have to manage forests differently in Ninth Circuit states, including Alaska, Montana, Idaho, California, Oregon and Washington.

A 2018 appropriations bill rider exempted recent forest management plans from Cottonwood’s consultation requirement when new species are listed or critical habitat is designated for five years. But this partial fix lapsed in the spring, so the Forest Service is hostage again to the left.

More than 100 forest plans will have to go through consultation because the rider has expired."