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United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued a June 12th memorandum to Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen titled:

Secretarial Memorandum to the Chief of the Forest Service (“Memorandum”)

The Memorandum is described as a “blueprint” for the Forest Service’s systems and approaches to ensure natural forest and grasslands continue to meet the needs of the American people.

One of the focuses of the Memorandum is expediting environmental reviews to support active management of the National Forest System.

The Memorandum acknowledges that management activities on the National Forest System lands require compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and additional laws and regulations.

The Memorandum states that the Forest Service will:

• set time and page limits on the completion of environmental documents, including categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, and environmental impact statements;
• streamline policy to ensure environmental reviews focus on analysis that is required by law and regulation;
• work across the government to initiate the development of policies for alternative procedures to streamline consultation processes and environmental reviews; and expedite compliance with State Historic Preservation Offices for vegetation management and facility and infrastructure improvements

Additional goals addressed by the Memorandum include:

• Increasing the productivity of National Forests and Grasslands
• Valuing United States’ grazing heritage and the National Grasslands
• Increasing access to National Forest System Lands

A copy of the Memorandum can be downloaded here.