Forest Service—Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment brochure and video materials, B-302992, September 10, 2004

B-302992 Sep 10, 2004 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The Forest Service's use of appropriated funds to produce and distribute a brochure and video materials on the land management and resource plan for the Sierra Nevada National Forest did not violate the publicity or propaganda prohibition of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004. Under its information dissemination authority, the Forest Service may distribute these materials to explain and defend its forest management policies to the general public. The Forest Service's use of appropriated funds to pay a private public relations firm to assist with the production and dissemination of the brochure and video materials also did not violate the prohibition of using appropriated funds to pay for a publicity expert under 5 U.S.C. 3107. The Forest Service contracted with the firm to assist with a legitimate information dissemination activity and was not hired as a "publicity expert" as envisioned by section 3107. View Decision B-302992, Forest Service --Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment brochure and video materials, September 10, 2004 B-302992 September 10, 2004 The Honorable Richard W. Pombo Chairman Committee on Resources U.S. House of Representatives The Honorable Greg Walden Chairman Committee on Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health U.S. House of Representatives Subject: Forest Service --Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment brochure and video materials This responds to your request for our legal opinion regarding the Forest Service's use of appropriated funds to produce and distribute a brochure entitled "Forests With a Future: Protecting Old Growth Trees, Wildlife and Communities in Sierra Nevada." Specifically, you asked whether the use of appropriated funds for the brochure constitutes a violation of the prohibition on using funds for publicity or propaganda purposes enacted in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-199, Div. F., Tit.VI, 624, 118 Stat. 3, 356 (2004). You also asked whether the Forest Service's contract with a private company, OneWorld Communications, Inc. (OneWorld), to assist with the production and distribution of the brochure violated 5 U.S.C. 3107, which prohibits the use of appropriated funds to pay a publicity expert without authorization from Congress. To respond to your request, we wrote to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting factual information and its legal justification for its use of appropriations to produce and distribute the brochure. Letter from Susan A. Poling, Managing Associate General Counsel, GAO, to Nancy S. Bryson, General Counsel, USDA, May11, 2004. In response to our letter, we received a copy of a legal memorandum written by Ms. Bryson to Mark E. Rey, Under Secretary, Natural Resources and Environment, USDA, Apr. 23, 2004 (Bryson Memo). This memorandum explained USDA's legal justification as to why the brochure at issue here did not violate the publicity or propaganda prohibition and other anti-lobbying prohibitions of the annual appropriations act. [1] Letter from Nancy S. Bryson, USDA, to Susan A. Poling, GAO, May 13, 2004. On May 27, 2004, we received a supplemental response from Mr. Rey (Rey Response). This response provided answers to the specific questions we posed in our May 11 letter, documentation evidencing the contractual relationship between the Forest Service and OneWorld, and video material. We met informally with Forest Service officials, including Mr. Rey, on June 18 (June Meeting) to clarify the answers provided in both responses and to develop further the factual record. On July 8, 2004, we received additional documentation from Forest Service officials (July Response), including written communications between OneWorld and the Forest Service evidencing the business relationship between them. As we explain below, the Forest Service did not violate the publicity or propaganda prohibition nor did it violate section 3107. The written and video materials provide the administration's view of the Forest Service's thinning policy on preventing catastrophic forest fires; while the Forest Service policy is controversial, the materials explaining the policy do not constitute prohibited publicity or propaganda. Furthermore, OneWorld was not acting as a "publicity expert" within the meaning of section 3107 when it assisted the Forest Service in the production of materials to help explain its thinning policy to the public. This opinion does not address the soundness or advisability of the policies addressed in the brochure and video at issue herein. BACKGROUND The Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment Under federal statute, the Secretary of USDA must maintain land and resource management plans for each unit of the National Forest System. [2] 16 U.S.C. 1604. The Secretary also must revise these plans every 15 years or sooner if conditions in a forest unit have changed significantly.