Forest Service chief outlines new management approach

The U.S. Forest Service is moving toward a new management philosophy that emphasizes recreation and habitat over logging and other extractive uses, USFS chief Michael Dombeck said this week.

The new approach means the era of ambitious roadbuilding in national forests is over, Dombeck noted in a speech Tuesday before the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Aside from the threats to species and water quality and the degradation of wilderness areas associated with the roads, Dombeck said the USFS currently has an $11 billion backlog in road maintenance.

He also said federal forests are increasingly important for the water they supply to reservoirs and aquifers, and it is important to manage the forests as watersheds. More than 3,400 communities with 60 million residents rely on national forests for their drinking water.

Dombeck also said a new proposal to close roads will be released in a few weeks. Jay Watson of the Wilderness Society said a "strong roadless policy" would represent a "seismic shift" for the USFS (Glen Martin, San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 26).

Pat Davis of People for the U.S.A. said the USFS has not scientifically justified the need to close roads (Nancy Vogel, Sacramento Bee, Jan. 26).