At a telephone press conference today, authors of "An Economic Analysis of the Wayne National Forest Plan," a new study by Greenfire, LLC, commissioned by the regional forest protection organization Heartwood, discussed their conclusions that the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) 15-year management plan for southern Ohio’s Wayne National Forest (WNF)––Ohio’s only national forest––does not maximize net public benefits as required by law.
Study co-author, economist Christine Glaser, PhD, stated that the plan “does not create a net public benefit,” because both monetary and nonmonetary public costs are greater than public benefits. Andy Mahler, Heartwood Coordinator, summed up: “It’s really the worst of both worlds. Not only are we getting a degraded and cut-over public forest, but we are wasting tax money and preventing more desirable benefits from the forest in the process.”
The study evaluated costs of running USFS operations and found that “logging, mining, and off-highway vehicle (OHV) trails cost the Forest Service more than is coming back in revenues.” They also found that extensive pollution costs result from Forest Service plans to log more than 18,000 acres and to burn 68,000 acres (over a quarter of the Wayne) in the next ten years, as well as to expand OHV trails by over 100 miles.
The authors challenged the rationale for logging, burning, and OHVs on economic and environmental grounds. The study points out that Southeast Ohio has one of the highest air pollution levels in the nation, that four Wayne counties are in noncompliance with EPA particulate standards, and that OHVs are high emitters of particulates, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nitrous oxides (NOx). The authors also found high costs in lost ecosystem services from FS activities.
