Planning
The Coconino National Forest's land and resource management plan (also known as the forest plan) aims to promote responsible land management for the forest based on useful and current information and guidance. Land management planning guides the Forest Service in fulfilling its responsibilities for the stewardship of the forest and to best meet the needs of the American people.
Coconino National Forest Plan
This plan, developed in 2018, provides strategic guidance and information for project and activity decision making on the Coconino for approximately the next 15 years.
As a living document, the plan has been updated as needs have arisen, and the latest version is linked here. Information regarding changes and amendments to the plan can be accessed below.
Forest Plan Record of Decision
This public Record of Decision (ROD) documents the Coconino National Forest Supervisor's decision and rationale for approving the revised forest plan.
Through the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act (WSRA), Congress designated Fossil Creek as a wild and scenic river in spring 2009 to protect its amazing attributes for years to come.
This designation included 16.8 miles from the confluence of Sand Rock and Calf Pen canyons to the confluence with the Verde River. The Fossil Creek river corridor is divided into three segments—one 7.5-mile recreational segment and two wild segments, totaling 9.3 miles.
As part of its designation, the Coconino and Tonto national forests worked together to complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and create a Comprehensive River Management Plan (CRMP).
These two documents work together to guide future management and protection of the Fossil Creek area.
Forest Plan Monitoring and Evaluation
The Coconino National Forest began implementing its newly revised Forest Plan on June 26, 2018. Monitoring and evaluation are required by National Forest Management Act regulations and the 2012 Planning Rule to determine how the Forest Plan is being applied, how well the plan is working to maintain or make progress toward desired conditions, and if its management direction remains appropriate. Based upon this evaluation, recommendations may be made to change management direction or revise or amend the Forest Plan. This is intended to inform adaptive management of the Coconino National Forest.
Administrative Changes to the Forest Plan
While administrative changes have been made as listed below, the original 2018 plan is still available for download.
This administrative change carries forward modifications and clarifications to the Coconino Forest Plan, and an errata to the Record of Decision (ROD), to address the decision made on appeals of the plan, follow the instructions given in that decision, and provide the resolutions agreed to and offered in appeal resolution meetings with the appellants. The alterations made as part of this administrative change, as well as the errata to the ROD, are listed in the attached document, “Coconino Forest Plan, Administrative Change per Appeal Resolutions, Administrative Change #2.” In this document, additions are indicated by bold, italicized text; deletions are indicated by strike-through text.
This administrative change proposes changes to the monitoring strategy by adding to the focal species monitored. The Coconino NF made an Administrative Change to the Monitoring Strategy (Chapter 5 of the Coconino Revised Forest Plan) in June 2019. After several years of monitoring those initial focal species by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (BCOR), forest biologists have recommended additional species that would serve as better indicators of ecological integrity. This administrative change is to add those focal species to forest monitoring to better meet the need to monitor the condition of the forest ecosystems they inhabit. These additions were published for public review and comment in October and November 2024.
Comments were received from two reviewers, agreeing with the additions to forest focal species. This administrative change has been approved (decision letter), and the resultant changes to the Coconino Forest Plan Monitoring Strategy (Chapter 5 of the Forest Plan) are described and listed in the document "Coconino National Forest Change in Focal Species."
The decision for the Fossil Creek Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive River Management Plan (Fossil Creek CRMP) in October 2021 authorized an amendment to the Coconino Forest Plan to apply to all future projects and activities within the Fossil Creek Special Area. This plan amendment:
- Decreases the area of the Fossil Creek Designated Wild and Scenic River Special Area by 4 acres at T21N, R7E, E 1/2 Section 21 in order to comply with the requirements of Section 3(b) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which states, “boundaries shall include an average of not more than 320 acres of land per mile.…”
- Incorporates the management direction provided in Chapter 3 of the Fossil Creek CRMP. This management direction applies to the 2,892 acres within the Fossil Creek Designated Wild and Scenic River Special Area on the Coconino National Forest.
- Recommends an 11.6-acre addition to the Designated Fossil Springs Botanical Area.
To incorporate this amendment, changes have been made to the Coconino Forest Plan. Appendix G has been added, containing the management direction for the Fossil Creek Wild and Scenic River Special Area, and pages and maps updated.
Schedule of Proposed Actions (SOPA)
The Schedule of Proposed Actions (SOPA) report contains a list of proposed actions on the Coconino National Forest that will begin or are currently undergoing environmental analysis and documentation.
Forest Plan Evaluation Reports
The second and most recent Biennial Monitoring Evaluation Report for the Revised Coconino Forest Plan summarizes the findings of the monitoring required by the forest plan monitoring strategy, with data collected in fiscal years 2021 and 2022. It includes recommendations for additional management and monitoring activities to support moving forest resources toward desired conditions.
The first Biennial Monitoring Evaluation Report for the Revised Coconino Forest Plan covers the first three years of plan implementation, fiscal years 2018 through 2020, and presents the results of the monitoring required by the forest plan monitoring strategy during this period.
Required by the 2012 Planning Rule (36 C.F.R. §219.12), biennial monitoring evaluation reports document whether a change to the plan or change to the monitoring program is warranted based on new information, whether a new assessment may be needed, or whether there is no need for change at that time.
The first monitoring report was published two years after the Forest Plan's monitoring strategy was transitioned to focal species, an administrative change made in 2019.