Get reliable science

In July 2001, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth began an initiative to evaluate the sources of “process gridlock” or the inability of District level staff “to do the work that we know needs to be done because of unnecessary and unproductive process and procedures”. The Inventory and Monitoring Institute together with BusinessGenetics, a private consulting company, engaged in a business process modeling effort in order to portray the complexity and impact of environmental laws on National Forest level project planning. The models were developed in 3 stages: an initial model based on Forest Service Handbooks, a second model based on the NEPA statute and regulations and a third model developed by merging the models from the first two stages. Each model provides clear visual evidence of the complexity of the project planning process and served as a tool for further evaluation of the Forest Service’s “process gridlock”.