Discretion and Flexibility: A Look at the Forest Service's New 2004 Planning Rules and the Shift Away from Management Indicator Species

摘要

In January 2005, the newly revised 2004 planning rules for the Forest Service went into effect and replaced those used since November 2000.[ One of the biggest and most controversial changes to the planning rules is the Forest Service will no longer use management indicator species (MIS) in its planning process. Instead, species management concerns in national forest plans will be addressed by a general ecological study that may be supplemented with additional species-specific studies, classified under two new categories: species-of-concern and species-of-interest.