Trump administration changes will influence Lolo Forest Plan
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) The revision of the Lolo National Forest plan is continuing, but several recent personnel and agency changes have pushed the release of the draft documents into the winter.
On Tuesday night, the Lolo National Forest hosted its first public meeting on the Lolo Forest Plan revision since before Carolyn Upton retired as forest supervisor in December. Although most questions about the revision went unanswered because of uncertainty due to the huge changes occurring at the federal level, the 60 people attending the online meeting got a chance to hear from the new Lolo supervisor, Benjamin Johnson.
Johnson said the past six months have been a time of transition. First, a number of personnel changes have occurred from getting a new supervisor and new Seeley Lake district ranger to some of the turnover that occurred on the revision team. But a bigger factor has been the shift in presidential administrations, Johnson said.
“With this administration shift, we’ve been getting a lot more guidance around certain priorities that the administration has. And the current administration has a specific approach to the function and structure of federal government. So that’s also something that we’ve been working through and trying to learn more about where they want the agency to be,” Johnson said.
Last week, U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary Brook L. Rollins issued a secretarial memorandum detailing a reorganization plan for the Department of Agriculture, including the U.S. Forest Service. One of the many changes is the elimination of Forest Service regional offices. Meanwhile, Trump’s proposed budget for 2026 slashes much of the Forest Service’s funding.
Johnson highlighted some of the Trump administration policy changes that may play directly into the revision of the Lolo forest plan, including the repeal of the roadless rule and changes to the National Environmental Policy Act.
At the end of June, Rollins announced she was rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule to get rid of “burdensome barriers that hamper American business and innovation.” A few days later, she announced that her department would be revising NEPA regulations, eliminating seven regulations to get rid of overregulation and unnecessary delays in energy leasing.
For the Forest Service, all NEPA regulations were rescinded except for a few dealing with agency-specific items such as grazing allotments and categorical exclusions. Language dealing with environmental assessments, and findings of no significant impact apply the same for all USDA agencies so they’re in a different section. Some of the language still needs to be tailored for Forest Service project-level administrative review process. Findings of no significant impact can now function as a decision notice.
In addition, the Lolo revision team has to figure out how to incorporate several memorandums issued by the president and Agriculture Secretary, including Trump’s March executive order to expand timber production by 25%. Rollins issued a memo in April requiring the forests to make determinations of wildfire risk. Some have said these, combined with the elimination of the roadless rule, constitute handouts to the timber industry. In March, Trump also issued an order requiring all agencies to support the mining of critical minerals, which include uranium, copper, potash and any other element the administration choses.
A few meeting attendees asked if anything could be done to preserve management in what are currently roadless areas, particularly the Cataract and Cube Iron areas. Johnson had no answers, saying he is awaiting further guidance on how to incorporate that into a forest plan.
“The Lolo Forest Plan is one of the priority plans for the agency, so we’re hoping to get some good information about how to apply those interim NEPA regs,” Johnson said.
Stacy Allen, Mountain Planning Services senior planner, said her team has undergone some turnover but has continued to work on the forest plan and environmental impact statement. But they are shifting the release of the draft documents from fall to winter. Amanda Millburn, the former planner, recently retired.
“We’re in a good place with the plan. We’re just circling back, making sure that we’re in alignment with administration priorities,” Allen said. “It is a priority. We have heard that loud and clear with this administration really needing to have a current forest plan that can address some of the priorities on the landscape.”
Johnson thanked everyone for attending and promised to maintain the community engagement that has existed during the plan revision. He also promised transparency.
“We are going to align ourselves with agency priorities and incorporate those as we need to. But we certainly want to be very transparent with you on how we are doing that,” Johnson said. “And initially, we’re going to keep using the best science.”
Johnson said he arrived about three weeks ago from Bellingham, Wash., where he was working remotely as the assistant director for recreation for the Forest Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. There, he oversaw the travel management program, national trail program, ski areas and visitor centers, recreation permitting and planning, and the National Avalanche Center.
“It was a lot of policy work, a lot of interacting with Congress and legislators,” Johnson said. “All fun, but I’m very excited to be back on a forest, especially the Lolo.”
After growing up in Texas and getting an environmental studies degree at Southwestern University, he worked as a climbing and canyoneering guide during and after college. After earning his masters degree in natural resources and public policy at the University of Michigan, he landed a job as a community engagement specialist on the Coronado National Forest in Arizona and then worked mainly in recreation management.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.