The federal Forest Service strikes a stewardship deal with Utah. Here’s what it will do.

Utah forestry officials and rural leaders can expect greater influence over critical decisions involving the management of the state’s 8 million acres of national forest, thanks to an agreement Gov. Gary Herbert and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue signed Wednesday. The deal obligates the U.S. Forest Service to rely on the state’s guidance for designing, implementing, and prioritizing projects geared toward reducing the risks of damaging wildfires and promoting forest health. “What we’re talking about with shared stewardship is one plus one equals more than two working together,” Perdue said before the signing, attended by top Forest Service officials and Utah lawmakers, county commissioners and agency heads. “State authorities have more nimbleness,” the former Georgia governor added. “They’ve got more boots on the ground here that they can operate with. Join those assets with the assets of the U.S. Forest Service and the resources of the federal government coming together to work together as good neighbors — not just in name only but in shared stewardship of the land making healthier forests for all the multiple benefits and local uses that we talk about.” The accord establishes a framework that enables the state to “work collaboratively with the Forest Service to accomplish mutual goals” and respond to growing challenges on national forests afflicted by years of drought, a warming climate, spreading beetle infestations that are killing trees and an historic legacy of fire suppression that has left many areas overgrown, choked with deadfall and primed for “catastrophic wildfires." Utah officials expect the agreement to build on existing programs and investments in restoring degraded forest landscapes...While the agreement doesn’t address these funding needs, it does signal a degree of responsiveness from federal land managers that Utah leaders say has been lacking, particularly under the Obama administration. It reflects the concept of “shared stewardship” championed by new Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen in a strategy paper posted last August...MORE

Shared stewardship. Pretty words but the have it bassakwards: The state should be managing the lands with input from the Forest Service.