Here is a story on the adminsitration's new rules for off-road vehicle use in national forests that appear to take a small step toward decentralization of forest management

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The Bush administration yesterday gave local managers the authority to decide where visitors can use off-road vehicles in national forests, a move that could reshape how Americans experience the country's 155 forests and 20 grasslands.

The new rules -- which take effect in 30 days -- do not restrict or expand access for all-terrain vehicles, which have become increasingly popular, and they do not affect snowmobiles. But Forest Service Chief Dale N. Bosworth, who has identified "unmanaged recreation" as one of the four biggest threats to national forests, said the proposal will both satisfy visitors and protect public land.

"Our problem is, recreation has to be carefully managed," Bosworth said in a telephone briefing yesterday. "The rule itself doesn't open or close a single route. That's a local decision."

Rather than specifying criteria for designating routes for motorized vehicles, the rules instruct local officials to base decisions on public input, with the aim of minimizing environmental damage and conflicts with other users. This approach drew praise from riders of motorcycles, four-wheel-drives and other off-road vehicles -- whose numbers have risen from 5 million in 1972 to 51 million in 2001 -- but drew criticism from environmentalists.