While Congress debates legislation to speed up thinning of fire-prone forests, officials who oversee the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies are crafting administrative changes aimed at conveying portions of President Bush's controversial forest management plan. Some possible changes in regulations could be unveiled this month, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey said in a recent telephone interview, including a "categorical exclusion" that would allow "certain categories of relatively minor fuels reduction activities" without an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement."And we're working on such a categorical exclusion right now," he said. Rey oversees the Forest Service and is also...