The U.S. Forest Service's management strategy for Los Padres National Forest seems to have a little something for everyone.

There is, for example, the notion to work more closely with neighboring communities to reduce the impacts of catastrophic wildfires. There also are plans to improve forest amenities to help accommodate an expected 20-percent increase in the public's use of forest land in the next decade. The new blueprint also calls for new emphasis on protecting wildlife and habitat for endangered species.

But at the same time, the new plan calls for increasing the availability of public land upon which oil and gas exploration and extraction will be allowed. There also are provisions for allowing even more access to off-road vehicles, which in the past have shown an almost alarming capacity for destroying public land.

So, who's interests are being served in the Forest Service's management blueprint?

Forest Service officials say they combed through 11,000 pages of comments and documents, most of them either requesting more access or less. One official remarked that "striking that balance" is a challenging task.

It wouldn't be quite so challenging if federal officials would simply prioritize a little, and come to the conclusion that when it comes to National Forests, the public's interest is the interest that should take precedence. Those who argue that allowing oil companies onto public land is in the public interest need to ask oil company officials why they haven't built new refineries in recent years, but instead are content to allow short supply to increase profits.

When it comes to public land, the public should come first.

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October 2, 2005