To:      Employees affected by NEPA Reengineering
From:  Mark Davis, Chair, NFFE Forest Service Council Strategic Planning Committee
Date:   February 25, 2008

 

Re:      NEPA Update from NFFE – BPR put on hold

The attached letter from Chief states that the agency “will not pursue [BPR of NEPA work] at this time.”  This letter was distributed through official channels last Thursday; however, we wanted to make sure you got it.

While this decision takes us out of “crisis mode,” we are still committed to performing content analysis of your comments on the feasibility report and potential ways to improve the NEPA work process.  As noted in the Chief’s letter:

  • At a later time, we will revisit recommendations from the NEPA Feasibility Study.
  • We… expect local managers to consider the Feasibility Study as they seek to increase NEPA efficiencies.
  • It remains important… for us to seek long-term strategies to improve NEPA efficiency.
  • Results from the [Feasibility] Study—coupled with open communication—will help us identify and analyze best strategies for streamlining NEPA processes in the future.  For now, we will move forward with ongoing efforts to increase efficiency.

 

We believe the content analysis results will provide invaluable information to national officials and local managers as they pursue ongoing and future efforts to improve the NEPA process.  We feel the current situation -- no longer in “crisis mode” -- actually makes it more likely some of the good ideas we are in the process of compiling may end up being implemented in a more thoughtful manner.

Thank you to all who submitted comments.  We will continue to work on analysis of their content to ensure your voices are heard.  We are approaching the end of the coding phase; drafting of concern statements is anticipated to begin in March.  The final report on the results should be completed this spring.  This report will be made available to agency leadership, local mangers, and agency employees.

In solidarity,

Mark Davis, Chair
NFFE Forest Service Council Strategic Planning Committee