Chapter 10: Environmental justice, low-income and minority populations, and forest management in the northwest forest plan area

This chapter synthesizes literature about the relation between federal forest management and low-income and minority populations, as defined by Executive Order (E.O.) 12898 (February 16, 1994)—“Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations” (Clinton 1994). The order requires federal land managers to identify and address any disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects of agency programs, policies, and actions on minority and low-income populations. In this chapter, we use the term “environmental justice populations” to refer to populations protected by E.O. 12898 in matters of environmental justice (defined below). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) primarily address environmental justice in their land and resource management planning processes. For example, the Forest Service 2012 planning rule2 requires responsible officials to “encourage participation by youth, low-income, and minority populations” (p. 21167) throughout all stages of the planning process, and, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, preparation of an environmental impact statement that includes impacts on low-income and minority populations.