Recent Policy Developments

Though service-wide and field issuances to the directive system provide the foundation for guiding management for NTFPs, two recent policy initiatives could significantly affect how national forests manage for NTFPs. In February 1999, the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Forestry and Public Land Management convened a hearing to explore opportunities for and constraints to increased harvesting of NTFPs on national forest land. By the end of that year, national legislation had passed to establish a pilot program to manage NTFPs (H.R. 2466 1999, section 339). This program has three important provisions: 1) recover fair market value, 2) collect fees that reflect real costs, and 3) determine sustainable harvest limits. The Bill provides direction for the establishment of appraisal methods and bidding procedures that guarantee that the amounts collected for NTFPs reflect fair market value. It requires that fees collected from the harvesting of NTFPs cover all costs associated with administering a program, including any environmental or biological assessments. The Bill further requires the Secretary of Agriculture to determine sustainable harvest methods and levels, and to establish procedures for monitoring and revising harvest levels.

The second policy development occurred in the spring of 2001, when the Washington Office of the Forest Service issued the National Strategy for Special Forest Products (USDA Forest Service 2001). Until now, no agency-wide NTFP policy had been formulated. The strategy is to guide and direct the agency in managing NTFP resources on public land and to assist state and private forest managers in their efforts to incorporate NTFPs into forest management. The strategy recognizes a need to have clear, comprehensive and fair policies toward NTFPs. It sets forth principles and priority areas that are intended to provide a basis for a plan of action for managing NTFPs. To guide and direct management efforts, the strategy establishes five strategic goals: 1) ensure availability of NTFPs within ecosystem limits, 2) integrate NTFPs into forest management, 3) have consistent and affective policies and plans, 4) inventory and monitoring of resources, and 5) collaborate with stakeholders. Incorporated into each strategic goal are actions that the agency can undertake to fulfill its aspiration to better manage NTFP resources.

References

• Additional NTFP References