Will you be able to see the forest if the trees are gone?

People have a right to be a bit skeptical when the Bush administration claims that its new regulations for managing the nation's forests will be environmentally friendly.
It's not as if the regulations being revised are from the Clinton administration -- these regulations date to the Reagan administration, and the Gipper was not often accused of being a tree hugger (President Reagan once famously accused trees of causing pollution).
Another reason to be wary is that the new regulations mirror recommendations made by industries -- logging, mining, drilling and livestock -- that are eager to turn the natural resources found in forests into profit.
Finally, the rules effectively diminish public participation in the management of public lands even as administration spokesmen claim that they'll encourage public input.
The new rules will govern the National Forest Management Act, the law passed in 1975 to protect the nation's 155 national forests.
Streamlining
The administration says the rules will streamline environmental reviews that can now take up to seven years. And while seven years sounds like a long time to take before deciding to permit logging or mining or drilling, it's worth remembering that the resources that will be taken out of the forest could take generations to restore, if at all.
Speaking of irreplaceable, the rules relax a requirement to protect fish and wildlife in national forests so species do not become threatened or endangered. Instead, the rules direct forest managers to take into account the best available science to protect air, water, wildlife and other natural resources at a landscape level.
The rules do not promote or discourage any particular forest use, such as recreation, grazing, timber harvest or mineral development. Decisions regarding such uses will be made on a forest-by-forest basis and will be informed by local conditions, science and public input, officials say.
A cynic might suggest that snowmobiling or logging might not necessarily deserve to be on the same level as taking a walk through the forest. Environmentalists are already saying that the rules eliminate analyses required under the National Environment Policy Act.
The rules are likely to be hotly debated and are just as likely to be challenged in court if a case can be made that the administration is using its ability to write rules to thwart legislation passed by Congress.