Forest Plan Revision; Background

Revision Background

A Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) is a comprehensive, broad set of direction that instructs the Forest Service how to manage the resources of a national forest. These long-range goals and objectives attempt to strike a balance between the public's often conflicting need for values, services, products, and uses and the physical and biological capability of the land.

The National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA) requires each national forest to have a Forest Plan. A Forest Plan must be consistent with environmental laws and regulations such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act.

Forest Plans are programmatic in nature. That is, the direction is broad in scope, meaning it is generally long-term and covers a large geographic area such as an entire forest rather than a small watershed. This is different than most of the "site-specific" or project-level planning the Forest Service conducts for such management activities as trail construction or harvesting timber.

Programmatic planning is similar to the concept of zoning a city for certain uses such as residential, light commercial business, or heavy industry.

Why Revise the Current Plans?

  • The existing Forest Plans are near the end of their intended 15-year life.
  • There have been substantial resource and social changes since the mid-1980's.
  • Gains in scientific knowledge need to be considered in developing the new Plans.
  • Revision is required by law (NFMA).

The new forest plans will be based on principles of sustainability. The term sustainability has many definitions but this one seems to sum it up best... "Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs."

Forest Plan revisions are warranted in light of the combined effects of multiple needs for change.

Preliminary Revision topics are being developed around the ecological, economic, and social components of sustainability. Revision topics/issues are divided into two categories.

1. Revision Topics:

This category includes topics for which resource conditions, technical knowledge, or public perception of resource management have created a "need for change" in the Forest Plans.

These are the major topics for plan revision. Their resolution could result in changes to management direction over large areas of the Forests, changes in the mix of goods and services that the Forests provide, and changes to other decisions made in the Forest Plans. They involve choices in management direction where there is no clear public consensus on the best course of action. These topics identify areas in which current management direction may not be sufficient to sustain desired conditions for the following:

  • Vegetation
  • Recreation
  • Fire Risk

2. Other Revision Topics:

A number of items were identified that need to be addressed in the Forest Plans, but are not major topics for change. In general, these items represent inadequate or out-of-date Forest Plan direction and addressing these items would not require a major change to the Forest Plans. These are likely to include:

  • Heritage Resources
  • Updating Forest Plan maps for consistency between Forests

Forest Plans contain five types of decisions:

  • Desired Conditions
  • Objectives
  • Guidelines
  • Special Area Designations; and
  • Designation of Suitable Land Uses

Further information will be available as the forest plan revision process continues.

The below links provide additional information regarding forest planning

What a Forest Plan Does & Does Not Do

National Forest Management Act (NFMA/Planning/1982 Planning Rule)
www.fs.fed.us/emc/nfma/includes/nfmareg.html