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1 April 11, 2008 <br />Page 5 <br />water development authorizations (including groundwater), both new and re- <br />issuances, will contain the necessary aquatic, and/or other resource management <br />desired conditions and objectives in a manner that minimizes potential negative <br />impacts to the environment. <br />Draft Plan p. 106 (emphasis added). <br />This pre- European vision for the SJPL establishes a standard that cannot be complied with <br />without adverse impact to existing and new water uses on SJPL. Therefore, the potential <br />negative impact on water facilities on SJPL which would occur as a consequence of the Draft <br />Plan can hardly be overstated. <br />3. There is no Legal Authority for Utilizing Ecological cological Sustainability, based on the <br />HRV Concert as a Management Strategy in the Draft Plan. The concept of ecological <br />sustainability, defined in terms of HRV, derives from the 1997 Report of the Committee of <br />Scientists convened to modernize the 1982 Rule. The concept was initially proposed during the <br />rulemaking for what became the 2000 Rule. As originally proposed for the 2000 Rule, HRV <br />provided the same sort of expansive, pre - settlement, definition as found in the Draft Plan: <br />The limits of change in composition, structure, and processes of the biological and <br />physical components of an ecosystem resulting from natural variations in the <br />frequency, magnitude, and patterns of natural disturbance and ecological <br />processes characteristic of an area before European settlement. Estimates are <br />made for a specified period of time and include the effects of pre- European <br />settlement human activities. <br />64 Fed. Reg. 54109 -54110 (October 5, 1999) (Emphasis added). <br />The HRV concept, however, was replaced in the final 2000 Rule, to remove a pre- settlement <br />vision for National Forests. As finalized, the 2000 Rule replaced HRV with the concept of <br />"Expected Range of Variation," defined as: <br />The expected range of variation in ecosystem composition, and structure that <br />would be expected under natural disturbance regimes in the current climactic <br />period. These regimes include the type, frequency, severity and magnitude of <br />disturbance in the absence of fire suppression and extensive commodity <br />extraction. <br />65 Fed. Reg. 67580 (November 9, 2000). Therefore, the 2000 Rule rejected a return to pre - <br />settlement conditions identified by the HRV concept, which the SJPLC now seeks to re- establish <br />in the Draft Plan. The USFS itself admitted these problems with the HRV concept: <br />The Department [of Agriculture] agrees that a goal of pre- European settlement <br />conditions is unattainable. Given climate change, land -use change, and changing <br />