National Forest management guidelines developed by the Bush administration violate federal law and must be dropped, a federal court ruled today.

The guidelines in question affect nearly all aspects of management on the 193 million acre National Forest system, including timber sales, wildlife management and road construction. The regulations put too much decision-making power in the hands of local Forest Service officials and prevented public input and action at many stages of the process, according to environmental groups that opposed them.

The U.S. Forest Service had argued that because the federal rules were not site specific, they could not be found to violate any specific law or be the cause of any specific damage.

The decision prohibits the Forest Service from using the regulations, proposed in 2008, because they violate the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act.

In a 26-page decision, Federal Judge Claudia Wilken vacated the Forest Service rule and ordered the agency to form a new one. Similar efforts in 2005 and 2007 also were struck down by federal courts.

"Hopefully this signals the last gasp of Bush administration mismanagement of national forests, said Marc Fink of Duluth, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one plaintiff in the suit.

Forest Service officials were not immediately available to comment.

(Editing note from Virginia Wilderness Committee: It is currently unclear how this decision will impact the Planning process for the George Washington National Forest. We will post information when we have it.)