This paper draws on systematic data from the US Forest Service’s (USFS) Planning, Appeals and Litigation System to analyze how the agency conducts environmental impact assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We find that only 1.9 percent of the 33,976 USFS decisions between 2005 and 2018 were processed as Environmental Impact Statements, the most rigorous and time-consuming level of analysis, whereas 82.3 percent of projects fit categorical exclusions. The median time to complete a NEPA analysis was 131 days. The number of new projects has declined dramatically in this period, with the USFS now initiating less than half as many projects per year as it did prior to 2010. We find substantial variation between USFS units in the number of projects completed and time to completion, with some units completing projects in half the time of others. These findings point toward avenues for improving the agency’s NEPA processes.

中文翻译：

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美国林务局对国家环境政策法案的实施：快速、多变、很少诉讼和下降

本文利用来自美国林务局 (USFS) 规划、上诉和诉讼系统的系统数据来分析该机构如何根据《国家环境政策法案》(NEPA) 进行环境影响评估。我们发现，在 2005 年至 2018 年间的 33,976 项 USFS 决策中，只有 1.9% 被处理为环境影响报告，这是最严格和最耗时的分析级别，而 82.3% 的项目符合分类排除。完成 NEPA 分析的中位时间为 131 天。在此期间，新项目的数量急剧下降，现在 USFS 每年启动的项目数量不到 2010 年之前的一半。我们发现 USFS 单位之间在完成的项目数量和完成时间方面存在很大差异，一些单位完成项目的时间是其他单位的一半。这些发现指出了改进该机构 NEPA 流程的途径。