Organization, Functions, and Procedures; Functions and Procedures; Forest Service Functions, 24497-24503 [2023-08429]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Forest Service

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 77 (Friday, April 21, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 24497-24503]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-08429]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

36 CFR Part 200

RIN 0596-AD59


Organization, Functions, and Procedures; Functions and 
Procedures; Forest Service Functions

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest 
Service is inviting public feedback and initiating

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Tribal consultation on the following topic and additional questions: 
Given that climate change and related stressors are resulting in 
increasing impacts with rapid and variable rates of change on national 
forests and grasslands, how should the Forest Service adapt current 
policies to protect, conserve, and manage the national forests and 
grasslands for climate resilience, so that the Agency can provide for 
ecological integrity and support social and economic sustainability 
over time?

DATES: Comments must be received in writing by June 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments by any of the following methods:
     Preferred: Federal eRulemaking Portal www.regulations.gov.
     Mail: Director, Policy Office, 201 14th Street SW, 
Mailstop 1108, Washington, DC 20250-1124.
    All comments received will be posted to www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided. The public may inspect 
comments received at www.regulations.gov. Do not submit any information 
you consider to be private, Confidential Business Information (CBI), or 
other information, the disclosure of which is restricted by statute.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Swanston, Director, Office 
of Sustainability and Climate, (202) 205-0822. Individuals who use 
telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 24 hours a day, every day 
of the year, including holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    This advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM):
     Builds on ongoing work to implement section 2 of Executive 
Order (E.O.) 14072, Strengthening the Nation's Forests, Communities, 
and Local Economies (87 FR 24851, April 22, 2022), including input 
received from Tribal consultation and public comment on the recent 
Request for Information (RFI) (87 FR 42493, July 15, 2022) on mature 
and old-growth forest definition, identification, and inventory. E.O. 
14072 calls particular attention to the importance of Mature and Old-
Growth (MOG) forests on Federal lands for their role in contributing to 
nature-based climate solutions by storing large amounts of carbon and 
increasing biodiversity.
     Is consistent with and intended to support implementation 
of Secretary Vilsack's Memo 1077-044, Climate Resilience and Carbon 
Stewardship of America's National Forests and Grasslands (Secretary's 
Memo) (https://www.usda.gov/directives/sm-1077-004), and the USDA 
Forest Service's Wildfire Crisis Strategy, Climate Adaptation Plan, and 
Reforestation Strategy for the National Forest System (https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildfire-crisis).
     Builds on the 2012 National Forest System Land Management 
Planning Rule (Planning Rule) at 36 CFR part 219 (https://www.fs.usda.gov/planningrule), which requires that revised Forest 
Service land management plans provide for ecological, social, and 
economic sustainability. The Planning Rule also created an adaptive 
management framework for land management planning, including 
assessment, plan revision or amendment, and monitoring.
     Uses the Planning Rule's definitions of ecological 
integrity and social and economic sustainability to structure the 
concept of climate resilience. Climate resilience is essential for 
ecological integrity and social and economic sustainability.
     Reflects the Forest Service's commitment to continual 
learning and organizational improvement by engaging people in 
conserving forests and grasslands under threat of loss due to climate 
change.
    Climate change is leading to increasingly extreme storms and 
droughts, extensive pest and disease occurrence, more widespread 
chronic stress, and shifting fire regimes across forests and grasslands 
in the United States. Climate change also amplifies other existing 
stresses, including those from historic forest management and fire 
suppression approaches. Increasing activity and development within the 
wildland-urban interface further adds to these stressors, leading to 
increasingly rapid degradation of the health and ecological integrity 
of our forests and grasslands.
    More ecosystems and watersheds are becoming vulnerable to severe 
disturbance, with some geographies and ecosystem types experiencing 
more rapid and compounding impacts than others. Some ecosystem services 
provided by forests are functioning, while others are at significant 
risk. In some places, high severity burns are resulting in long-term 
loss of forest cover, along with the loss of associated plant and 
animal communities dependent upon those forest ecosystems, including 
MOG-forest communities and at-risk species. In other places, climate 
change threatens the persistence of current forest types in some 
portions of their historical range.
    National Forest management reflects what the American people desire 
from their natural resources at any given point in time. In response, 
management of the National Forest System (NFS) has evolved over the 
Forest Service's 118-year history. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 
shifted Federal land policy from a focus on transferring land out of 
Federal ownership to a focus on conservation and sustainability. 
Beginning with the Organic Act of 1897, the Federal Government shifted 
the focus of forest management towards: (1) improving and protecting 
forests; (2) securing favorable conditions for water flows (i.e., 
protecting watersheds); and (3) furnishing a continual supply of 
timber.
    These laws led to a period of custodial management from roughly 
1905 to 1939 when the American people sought to reduce destructive and 
wasteful use of forest resources (see Figure 1). The onset of World War 
II (WWII) opened an era with an emphasis on increased timber production 
to support the war effort and post-war housing needs. Another shift 
began to occur in the 1960s with greater environmental awareness. The 
Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act (MUSYA) of 1960 instructed the agency 
to equally balance outdoor recreation, range, timber, watersheds, fish, 
and wildlife with a greater emphasis on accountability to a broader 
group of stakeholders, establishing the regime the Forest Service must 
manage under today. Additionally, the National Forest Management Act 
(NFMA) enacted in 1976 gives the Secretary of Agriculture broad 
authority to manage all forests that are in imminent danger of insect 
attack or disease and instructs the Secretary to comply with MUSYA. The 
NFMA instructs the Secretary to use new research to protect the 
Nation's natural resources including soil, water, and air resources as 
well as the future productivity of renewable resources.
    High harvest levels continued into the early 1990s. Over the 
following decades, National Forest System management continued to 
evolve with new environmental laws and regulations. In the 1990s and 
early 2000s, multiple attempts were made to revise the Forest Service's 
1982 Land Management Planning Rule to better reflect the Agency's 
continued learning and shifts in management priorities and needs. Those 
years also saw rising costs of wildfire suppression as a proportion of 
the Forest Service's budget, as climate change and increases in the 
numbers of people and value of infrastructure in the wildland-urban 
interface exacerbated challenges from past fire suppression, drought, 
insects, and disease.

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    In 2012, USDA and the Forest Service published a new Planning Rule 
(77 FR 21162, April 9, 2012), which required that land management plans 
provide for ecological sustainability and contribute to social and 
economic sustainability, using public input and the best available 
scientific information to inform plan decisions. The 2012 Planning Rule 
contained a strong emphasis on protecting and enhancing water 
resources, restoring land and water ecosystems, and providing 
ecological conditions to support the diversity of plant and animal 
communities, while providing for ecosystem services and multiple uses. 
It explicitly recognized climate change as one of the challenges for 
land management into the future.
    The Forest Service currently integrates forest restoration, climate 
resilience, watershed protection, wildlife conservation, and 
opportunities to contribute to vibrant local economies, along with 
continued and growing investments with a focus on equity and 
partnerships. In recent years the impacts of climate change as a system 
driver have become even clearer. The risks and costs associated with 
high-severity wildfires have also continued to grow. This ANPRM 
reflects these management priorities and challenges.
    To put this evolution of National Forest System management into 
context, currently the Forest Service commercially harvests one tenth 
of one percent of acres within the National Forest System each year. 
Harvests designed to improve stand health and resilience by reducing 
forest density or removing trees damaged by insect or disease make up 
86 percent of those acres. The remainder are final or regeneration 
harvests that are designed to be followed by reforestation.
    At the same time, over the past 15 years data shows that 
disturbance driven primarily by wildfire and insect and disease has 
adversely impacted more than 25 percent of the 193 million acres across 
the National Forest System (see Figure 2). This rapidly changing 
environment is now the primary driver of forest loss and type 
conversion. Wildfire alone causes approximately 80 percent of 
reforestation needs on National Forest System lands, and we expect 
those needs to continue to grow: More than half of the 4 million acres 
of potential reforestation needs on National Forest System lands stems 
from wildfires in 2020 and 2021 (see Figure 3).
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    Updated and continually evolving science and better understanding 
of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) are helping the Agency to clarify these 
vulnerabilities and threats. This improved clarity, combined with 
innovations in resource inventory, data visualization, and risk 
assessment also help to inform and prioritize conservation, adaptive 
management, policies, and actions.
    The Forest Service is actively developing and deploying spatially 
explicit tools to better support climate-informed decision-making, in 
line with the Secretary's Memo 1077-044, Climate Resilience and Carbon 
Stewardship of America's National Forests and Grasslands.
    The Secretary's Memo directs the Forest Service to spatially 
identify wildfire and climate change-driven threats and risks to key 
resources and values in the National Forest System, including water and 
watersheds, biodiversity and species at risk, forest carbon, and 
reforestation. Further, section 2 of E.O. 14072 specifically directs 
Federal agencies to identify mature and old forests on Forest Service 
and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.
    Through this ANPRM, USDA is sharing the beta version of a new 
Forest Service Climate Risk Viewer (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/87744e6b06c74e82916b9b11da218d28) for public feedback (see 
Section 1 below). This beta version was developed with 38 high-quality 
datasets and begins to illustrate the overlap of multiple resource 
values with climate exposure and vulnerability. The viewer also 
includes current management direction on National Forest System lands. 
The viewer allows for a place-based analysis of the need for climate 
adaptation to maintain, restore, and expand valued forest ecosystem and 
watershed characteristics. Additionally, the viewer supports 
identification of gaps between current management and potential 
conservation and adaptation practices. The beta version of the mature 
and old-growth (MOG) inventory that is being developed pursuant to E.O. 
14072 and the RFI for MOG is also being released to help inform policy 
and decision-making on how best to conserve, foster, and expand the 
values of mature and old-growth forests on our Federal lands. Core 
information from the MOG inventory has been integrated into the viewer.
    The Secretary's Memo called for additional fireshed data layers to 
inform

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investments under the Forest Service's Wildfire Crisis Strategy (WCS) 
(https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildfire-crisis), which clearly 
lays out risks to people, communities, and ecosystem health related to 
wildfire and sets forth a strategy for mitigating and recovering from 
those risks. The WCS is a core component of the Forest Service's 
Climate Adaptation Plan, which involves reducing risk of catastrophic 
wildfire in the near term and creates time and opportunity to foster 
long-term climate resilience in these ecosystems.
    In January 2023, USDA and the Forest Service announced FY 2023 
investments in 11 new landscapes for wildfire risk reduction, along 
with additional investments in the 10 initial landscapes announced in 
April 2022. These 11 new landscapes were prioritized after a review of 
new data layers developed pursuant to the Secretary's Memo that 
included a focus on protecting critical infrastructure, public water 
sources, and at-risk species habitat; equity; and proximity to Tribal 
lands, in addition to wildfire exposure to home and buildings. 
Consistent with the President's E.O. 14072, the importance of mature 
and old-growth forests were recognized and the Agency highlighted that 
the science around large tree retention and conservation is part of its 
fuels reduction strategy.
    This ANPRM continues the Agency and Department's commitment to 
climate-adapted approaches to conserve the nations forests and 
grasslands. We invite public input and Tribal consultation on how the 
Agency can continue to adapt current policies and management and 
develop new policies and practices for conservation and climate 
resilience to support ecologic, social and economic sustainability in 
light of climate change, human induced changes, and other stressors.
    Additional information pertaining to Forest Service sustainability 
and climate initiatives can be found here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/sc.

Comments Requested

    Climate change and related stressors, such as wildfire, drought, 
insects and disease, extreme weather events, and chronic stress on 
ecosystems are resulting in increasing impacts with rapid and variable 
rates of change on national forests and grasslands. These impacts can 
be compounded by fire suppression, development in the Wildland Urban 
Interface (WUI), and non-climate informed timber harvest and 
reforestation practices.
    Multiple Forest Service plans, policies, and regulations already 
include direction on climate adaptation. However, given (1) increasing 
rates of change, and (2) new information and ways of assessing and 
visualizing risk, USDA and the Forest Service are issuing this ANPRM to 
seek input on how we can develop new policies or build on current 
policies to improve our ability to foster climate resilience, 
recognizing that impacts are different in different places across the 
country.
    We are interested in public feedback and requests for Tribal 
consultation on a range of potential options to adapt current policies 
or develop new policies and actions to better anticipate, identify, and 
respond to rapidly changing conditions associated with climate-
amplified impacts. Overarching questions include:
     How should the Forest Service adapt current policies and 
develop new policies and actions to conserve and manage the national 
forests and grasslands for climate resilience, so that the Agency can 
provide for ecological integrity and support social and economic 
sustainability over time?
     How should the Forest Service assess, plan for and 
prioritize conservation and climate resilience at different 
organizational levels of planning and management of the National Forest 
System (e.g., national strategic direction and planning; regional and 
unit planning, projects and activities)?
     What kinds of conservation, management or adaptation 
practices may be effective at fostering climate resilience on forests 
and grasslands at different geographic scales?
     How should Forest Service management, partnerships, and 
investments consider cross-jurisdictional impacts of stressors to 
forest and grassland resilience at a landscape scale, including 
activities in the WUI?
     What are key outcome-based performance measures and 
indicators that would help the Agency track changing conditions, test 
assumptions, evaluate effectiveness, and inform continued adaptive 
management?
    Examples, comments, and Tribal consultation would be especially 
helpful on the following topics:
    1. Relying on Best Available Science, including Indigenous 
Knowledge (IK), to Inform Agency Decision Making.
    a. How can the Forest Service braid together IK and western science 
to improve and strengthen our management practices and policies to 
promote climate resilience? What changes to Agency policy are needed to 
improve our ability to integrate IK for climate resilience--for 
example, how might we update current direction on best available 
scientific information to integrate IK, including in the Forest Service 
Handbook (FSH) Section 1909.12?
    b. How can Forest Service land managers better operationalize 
adaptive management given rapid current and projected rates of change, 
and potential uncertainty for portions of the National Forest System?
    c. Specifically for the Forest Service Climate Risk Viewer 
(described above), what other data layers might be useful, and how 
should the Forest Service use this tool to inform policy?
    2. Adaptation Planning and Practices. How might explicit, 
intentional adaptation planning and practices for climate resilience on 
the National Forest System be exemplified, understanding the need for 
differences in approach at different organizational levels, at 
different ecological scales, and in different ecosystems?
    a. Adaptation Planning:
    i. How should the Forest Service implement the 2012 Planning Rule 
under a rapidly changing climate, including for assessments, 
development of plan components, and related monitoring?
    1. How might the Forest Service use management and geographic areas 
for watershed conservation, at-risk species conservation and wildlife 
connectivity, carbon stewardship, and mature and old-growth forest 
conservation?
    ii. How might the Forest Service think about complementing unit-
level plans with planning at other scales, such as watershed, 
landscape, regional, ecoregional, or national scales?
    a. Adaptation Practices:
    i. How might the Agency maintain or foster climate resilience for a 
suite of key ecosystem values including water and watersheds, 
biodiversity and species at risk, forest carbon uptake and storage, and 
mature and old-growth forests, in addition to overall ecological 
integrity? What are effective adaptation practices to protect those 
values? How should trade-offs be evaluated, when necessary?
    ii. How can the Forest Service mitigate risks to and support 
investments in resilience for multiple uses and ecosystem services? For 
example, how should the Forest Service think about the resilience of 
recreation infrastructure and access; source drinking water areas; and 
critical infrastructure in an era of climate change and other 
stressors?
    iii. How should the Forest Service address the significant and 
growing need for post-disaster response, recovery, reforestation and 
restoration, including to mitigate cascading disasters

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(for example, post-fire flooding, landslides, and reburns)?
    iv. How might Forest Service land managers build on work with 
partners to implement adaptation practices on National Forest System 
lands and in the WUI that can support climate resilience across 
jurisdictional boundaries, including opportunities to build on and 
expand Tribal co-stewardship?
    v. Eastern forests have not been subject to the dramatic wildfire 
events and severe droughts occurring in the west, but eastern forests 
are also experiencing extreme weather events and chronic stress, 
including from insects and disease, while continuing to rebound from 
historic management and land use changes. Are there changes or 
additions to policy and management specific to conservation and climate 
resilience for forests in the east that the Forest Service should 
consider?
    3. Mature and Old Growth Forests. The inventory required by E.O. 
14072 demonstrated that the Forest Service manages an extensive, 
ecologically diverse mature and old-growth forest estate. Older forests 
often exhibit structures and functions that contribute ecosystem 
resilience to climate change. Along with unique ecological values, 
these older forests reflect diverse Tribal, spiritual, cultural, and 
social values, many of which also translate into local economic 
benefits.
    Per direction in E.O. 14072, this section builds on the RFI to seek 
public input on policy options to help the Forest Service manage for 
future resilience of old and mature forest characteristics. Today there 
are concerns about the durability, distribution, and redundancy of 
these systems, given changing climate, as well as past and current 
management practices, including ecologically inappropriate vegetation 
management and fire suppression practices. Recent science shows severe 
and increasing rates of ecosystem degradation and tree mortality from 
climate-amplified stressors. Older tree mortality due to wildfire, 
insects and disease is occurring in all management categories.
    The Forest Service is analyzing threats to mature and old-growth 
forests to support policy development to reduce those threats and 
foster climate resilience. Today's challenge for the Forest Service is 
how to maintain and grow older forest conditions while improving and 
expanding their distribution and protecting them from the increasing 
threats posed by climate change and other stressors, in the context of 
its multiple-use mandate.
    a. How might the Forest Service use the mature and old-growth 
forest inventory (directed by E.O. 14072) together with analyzing 
threats and risks to determine and prioritize when, where, and how 
different types of management will best enable retention and expansion 
of mature and old-growth forests over time?
    b. Given our current understanding of the threats to the amount and 
distribution of mature and old-growth forest conditions, what policy, 
management, or practices would enhance ecosystem resilience and 
distribution of these conditions under a changing climate?
    4. Fostering Social and Economic Climate Resilience.
    a. How might the Forest Service better identify and consider how 
the effects of climate change on National Forest System lands impact 
Tribes, communities, and rural economies?
    b. How can the Forest Service better support adaptive capacity for 
underserved communities and ensure equitable investments in climate 
resilience, consistent with the Forest Service's Climate Adaptation 
Plan, Equity Action Plan and Tribal Action Plan?
    c. How might the Forest Service better connect or leverage the 
contribution of State, Private and Tribal programs to conservation and 
climate resilience across multiple jurisdictions, including in urban 
areas and with Tribes, state, local and private landowners?
    d. How might the Forest Service improve coordination with Tribes, 
communities, and other agencies to support complementary efforts across 
jurisdictional boundaries?
    e. How might the Forest Service better support diversified forest 
economies to help make forest dependent communities more resilient to 
changing economic and ecological conditions?

Christopher French,
Deputy Chief, National Forest System, Forest Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-08429 Filed 4-20-23; 8:45 am]
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