New plans for the protection of the country’s National Forests have finally been drafted. Many conservationists say that fresh ideas are long overdue considering the fact that the same mitigation and maintenance plans have been in effect since 1982. Creating sustainable methods for guarding the resources and wildlife of the National Forests should be a constant process because the areas under protection are always evolving. Changes in global climate, species number, water quality and availability are among the many factors to be considered when protection plans are being altered or created.

Bearing this in mind, the Obama Administration released their new design for the maintenance of the United States National Forests. The plan focuses mainly on the sustainability of the water found in the wilderness. National parks and forests are a very important source of drinking water foe a large number of Americans. Thia is only one reason why the guidelines for protecting the wilderness should be improved. Unfortunately, the new plan doesn’t provide equal protection of wildlife.

The previous plan of the Reagan era was more specific when mentioning the protection of species of wildlife. Rene Schoof, environmental writer, explains that the new plan “requires forest managers to maintain habitats. It leaves it up to the official in charge of a region’s forests to decide whether any individual species needs extra protection to ensure that it will continue to exist over the long term with ‘sufficient distribution.” This shift in language and gross generalization could be detrimental to the overall biodiversity of each National Forest. Without monitoring species populations, it is extremely difficult to get an accurate idea of the health of the biological community. The maintenance of habitat is crucial and can provide some insight into the rest of the forests’ biodiversity, but it is not a sufficient monitoring system. Without a more specific monitoring system, the wildlife of National Forests could be endangered.