The U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior (DOI) recently issued joint interim guidelines to implement stewardship contracts that allow timber companies to harvest trees in exchange for broadly defined “land management services” -- opening the door to increased logging in forests. The new guidelines give timber companies dangerous power to manage forest areas as they see fit. They do not place limits on the types of activities or services that can be performed as payment for timber harvests, stating: “the land management goals for stewardship projects may include treatments to improve, maintain, or restore forest or rangeland health; restore or maintain water quality; improve fish and wildlife habitat; and reduce hazardous fuels that pose risks to communities and ecosystem values, reestablish native plant species, or other land management objectives.” The guidelines also fail to limit the amount of forest or the types of trees that can be logged -- allowing timber companies to decide which trees to cut. The Forest Service and the DOI’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) typically engage in individual contracts for land management and harvest projects with various independent contractors. Stewardship contracts were conceived as a cost-effective way to reduce paperwork and deal with fewer contractors by combining harvest and maintenance projects. Congress first granted the Forest Service the authority to establish pilot stewardship projects in its FY 1999 appropriations and more recently extended this power to BLM in authorizing funds for FY 2003. Stewardship contracts are often viewed as an exchange of goods for services but in this case, the new guidelines look more like a giveaway to the timber industry. The Forest Service will be accepting public comments on the guidelines through July 28, 2003.