Here’s a tale of two federal agencies — the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management — and how they handle releasing public information.

Although neither agency would be mistaken for a patron saint of openness, the Forest Service can be open, while the BLM routinely practices concealment and delay.

The Forest Service released earlier this year an environmental assessment of possible strategies to limit access to wilderness areas near Central Oregon. The Forest Service basically is concerned that too many people are wrecking the wilderness experience. It could chose to encourage better behavior through additional enforcement or getting the message out. But no. It is bent on making it more expensive to visit public lands and set limits on access.

When a government agency releases one of these environmental assessments, there’s typically a month or so for people to publicly comment on the plan. The comment period for the Forest Service plan ended on May 21. On May 22, we asked to see the public comments to get a sense of the public reaction to the plan. The Forest Service told us at first we would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request and wait for that to go through channels. Minutes later, it said it would post all the comments on its website. The comments were up on the website on May 23 and the Forest Service even emailed us a PDF. That’s a good example of an agency committed to public disclosure of what should be public information.

Then there’s the BLM. There’s a home outside of Prineville built right smack in the middle of BLM land. The BLM didn’t let the public know anything about what was going on for 9 years. 9 years! When it did first make the matter public last year, the BLM refused to release the name of the people who owned the house. (It was Chuck McGrath and Jennipher Grudzien, co-founders of Bend-based Grace Bio-Labs Inc.) It didn’t even include a map of where the property was until we complained, though BLM staff said that was just a mistake.

The BLM released earlier this year an environmental assessment of possible strategies to resolve the issue of the home. The BLM may just sell the surrounding land to the homeowners, but no decision has been made. The public comment period for the BLM plan ended on June 25. We requested the public comments on June 25. The BLM said it may be as long as 30 days before the BLM responds. That doesn’t mean the request will be filled in 30 days. It’s just that we’ll likely get a better idea with that period if we’re going to get anything, how much will be censored and how much we’ll have to pay.

The Forest Service and the BLM are of course two different agencies and these are two different issues. But the intent of the Freedom of Information Act is to allow for disclosure of public information. The Forest Service has proven it can prioritize disclosure. The BLM has prioritized keeping the public in the dark.