Violations, variances and hearings are within the mandate of the State Forester, Regional Forester or other qualified designee. Appeals are heard by the Commissioner of Natural Resources. The Commissioner's decision is the final agency action. His decision can be appealed to the Superior Court.
Alaska is divided into three administrative forest regions:
The Alaska Coastal Management Program and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game are also involved in regulating forest practices. The Dept. of Fish and Game has jurisdiction over any operations crossing streams or affecting anadromous fish habitat.
The Ministry of Forests and Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks will jointly oversee the implementation and continuing development of the Code. A Forest Practices Board is established under the Act to carry out periodic, independent audits and to monitor the appropriateness of government enforcement. An independent Forest Appeals Commission is also established to hear appeals. A Forest Practices Advisory Council may be established to monitor Code implementation, and to undertake periodic reviews of the requirements that apply to operational planning and forest practices under the Act, the regulations and the standards. (FPC Act, 1994: s. 220).
There are specialized rules for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Coastal Zone Special Treatment Areas and five counties. Such rules are adopted by the Board of Forestry and enforced by the CDF. One section (Article 13) of the California Forest Practice Rules deals specifically with county rules and lists rules for five different counties: Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Marin, San Mateo and Monterey.
The state is divided into three administrative forest regions: the Coast Forest District, Northern Forest District and Southern Forest District. A High-Use subdistrict of the Southern Forest District recognizes the importance of recreation, water use and urbanization in competing with timber use. The subdistrict includes the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and those parts of Placer and Eldorado counties that are under the authority of the tristate Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
Registered Professional Foresters (RPF's) are recognized and licensed under provisions of another act. RPF's are given certain discretionary authority under the Rules: for example, they may prescribe alternate practices to those given in the Rules, but reasons for them must be given in writing. Timber Harvest Plans also must be prepared by an RPF.
Timber operators are required to attend a course on forest practices to obtain a license.
The National Forestry Centres promote private forestry, plan and supervise activities, enforce the prescriptive components of all Acts and regulations concerning private forestry, develop co-operation, lead the advanced training of forestry staff, implement national development projects and trials, select and publish statistical data of private forestry, and edit and publish scientific papers. The Forestry Centres also guide the activities of the District Forestry Boards (National Extension Service, 1994).
The district boards are primarily responsible for enforcement of the prescriptive components of the Act. The district boards also implement and enforce the Forest Improvement and Timber Measurement Laws, and supervise the private forest owners forest management associations (National Extension Service, 1994).
State forests are administered by the Finnish Forest and Park Service. In 1992 the Service was reorganized into business units of Forestry, Nature Protection, Recreational Services, Seed and Plant Production and Natural Resources Development (Finnish Forest and Park Service, 1993). Forestry, Nature Protection and Recreational Services are managed out of 6 regional centres. Each region is divided into districts; there are a total of 24 district offices in Finland. Silvicultural decisions are made at the local district level.
Figure 1: Administration of forestry in Finland
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, 1994a. Annex.
Effective January 1, 1994 the Forest and Park Service became a state enterprise. Its duties are to bring income to the state, protect nature, offer recreational services, employ people in remote areas, and consider the traditional rights of use of the Sami people of Northern Finland (J. Heino pers. comm.).
Federal Republic of Germany
The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry coordinate and provide a framework, mainly in the area of legislation and promotion (Federal Republic of Germany, 1994). Their tasks are done with the approval of other federal ministries. In addition, the Federal Ministry of Finance manages approximately 400,000 ha of forest land for civil defence and civil aviation purposes.
The federal ministry defines the structure and administers Germany's forest owner associations (Sections 15 to 40, Federal Forest Act). There are three types of associations in Germany: 1) Forest Associations are unions of private forest owners, 2) Community Associations are unions of community forests, and 3) Forest Mergers are unions of more than one forest association or community association. State forests are also members of the forest owner associations. There are 3,449 associations in Germany and they administer forest activities on approximately 2.6 million ha of forest land (1992 figures in Federal Republic of Germany, 1993). The formation of forest associations is encouraged because of their ability to improve forest management. Forest owners with small holdings, sparse woodlands, or restricted road access can benefit economically, when holdings are managed jointly.
Baden-Wurttemberg
Forestry practices are administered at three levels: 1) the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Food, 2) the Administrative Forest District and 3) the Forest Office. Implementation of the forest law is continuously audited by all three administrative levels.
The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry is the highest administrative level. Development of the State Forestry Law and accompanying regulations as well as Law additions or changes are determined by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry.
The second or middle administrative level is the Administrative Forest District. Administrative Forest Districts have discretionary authority over the Forest Offices. Administrative Forest Districts develop forest plans, audit forest offices, handle appeals, market state forest wood and develop some regulations.
The lowest administrative level is the Forest Office. There are 190 forest offices in Baden-Wurttemberg and each Forest Office has authority over approximately 6500 ha of forest land. Forest offices are responsible for operations on state land, distributing funds and advice to community and private forest owners, and auditing the application of the Forest Law. Local district office staff have police-like authority on forest land. Because the area they regulate is fairly small, the history, health and future plans for each forest stand is well known by the local forester (Brunner, pers. comm.).
Bavaria
Administration of the Forest Law in Bavaria is similar to the State structure in Baden-Wurttemberg. The highest administrative level is the State Forest Administration Department of the State Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forests. It is the responsibility of the administration department to ensure all forest operations (public and private) conform to the forest law. The State forest authorities also develop state legislation, participate in planning procedures, give advice and assistance in private forests and manage state-owned forests.
There are six Administrative Forest Districts, 162 Forest Offices and 1106 local district offices in Bavaria. The duties of each administrative level are similar to the duties described for the Baden-Wurttemberg counterparts.
Other agencies involved in administrating forest practices, at least in a review or advisory role, include the state departments of Fish & Wildlife, Environmental Quality and Water Resources. Federal agencies are involved in management and protection of endangered species and anadromous fish.
The Forestry Commission and Forestry Department are now a Forestry Corporation known as Forestry Tasmania and forest practices responsibility was transferred to a Forest Practices Board responsible to the Minister of Forests. Implementation of forest practices is by the Chief Forest Practices Officer who supervises the Forest Practices Unit and Forest Practices Officers. Regulations are passed by the Governor on recommendation from the Forest Practices Board. The Forest Practices Board may amend or rescind the Forest Practices Code following consultation with Private Forests Tasmania, the Forest Practices Council and Forestry Tasmania and after advertising the proposed amendments (FPATAS:85 (Sec 32)). Amendments are based on additional information obtained through research, field experience and public input, and any person may request an amendment to the Code. The latest revision was concluded in January 1993 (Wilkinson, pers. comm.). Standards in the Forest Practices Code are applied through approved Timber Harvesting Plans (THPs) (Wilkinson, pers. comm.).
In 1993, the Forest Practices Unit had 8 staff positions to administer the Forest Practices Act and Code. Regulation of Forest Practices is carried out by Forest Practices Planning and Inspecting Officers appointed from Forestry Tasmania, forest companies, and independent consultants.
Other resource and environmental agencies are involved, at least in a consultative role, in setting standards. For lands covered in the ROD, other agencies were directly involved through the Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team (FEMAT), who defined the alternatives in the SEIS. Through NEPA and the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Interior, has decision-making authority on projects where listed species or their habitats are considered to be threatened. Federal lands outside of the National Forest system are under the jurisdiction of several other agencies including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Department of Interior (USDI); the Bureau of Indian Affairs, USDI; National Parks Service, USDI; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDI; the armed forces. The National Forest system encompasses by far the most forest land in Washington and Oregon. BLM manages significant areas of forest in Oregon: about 2.7 million acres (1.1 million ha), representing roughly ten percent of Oregon's forest land base. Most of the BLM lands are covered by the ROD.
Two state regions, reflecting differing biophysical characteristics and land use, are recognized: Eastern and Western Washington. There are seven regional DNR offices: Central, Northeast, Northwest, Olympic, South Puget Sound, Southeast and Southwest.
