WASHINGTON (AP) - Forest health became the top priority in governing the nation's 192 million acres of forest under an overhaul of regulations that took effect Thursday.
The overhaul, which has been in the works for years, means that forest managers will be less likely to allow logging, skiing, hiking or other activities in forests if they believe those actions will permanently harm the ecosystem.
''We cannot do things that could put resources at risk,'' said Agriculture Undersecretary Jim Lyons, who oversees the Forest Service. ''Ecological sustainability is the foundation upon which future management decisions will be made.''
Environmentalists cheered the new regulations. But loggers and other forest users worry the rules will block their access to forests.
Adena Cook, public lands director for the BlueRibbon Coalition, a recreation industry group in Pocatello, Idaho, said her group may challenge the regulations in court or seek legislation to overturn them if group members conclude the rules go beyond federal law in limiting forest uses.
''Ecosystem sustainability ... those buzzwords give us a great deal of concern,'' Cook said.
Lyons said he remains committed to forest uses such as logging but recognizes that no activities are possible unless the land is healthy.
The new rules for the first time in 18 years revise how the Forest Service implements the National Forest Management Act of 1976, a key law that governs activities in forests.
The rules will be used as a guide by local forest administrators who craft management plans for 155 individual national forests. The plans among other things dictate where tourists can hike, camp or ski, and where logging and mining are allowed.
Plans for more than two-thirds of the forests are due for revision in the next three years, so updating the broader rules has been a top agency priority.
The new rules require forest managers to consult with citizens and scientists in writing forest management plans. ''The public needs to know they are being invited back into the decision-making process,'' Lyons said.
Environmentalists opposed attempted rules updates in 1991 and 1994, saying the rules lacked protections for plants and animals.
But Mike Leahy, natural resources counsel for Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, D.C., said the new rules are a step forward because the Forest Service has elevated the importance of ''ecological needs'' in forest management.
He said, however, the rules give local forest managers too much flexibility to circumvent some of the environmental protections. ''Even some of the good scientific provisions are voluntary to a certain extent,'' Leahy said.
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On the Net:
Forest Service planning rules: http://www.fs.fed.us/forum/nepa/rule/