Draft Forest Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)

The Notice of Availability (NOA) for the Tonto’s draft land management plan (draft forest plan) and draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) was published in the Federal Register on December 13, 2019; which initiated a 90-day comment period on those documents. A legal notice was also published in Arizona Capitol Times.

The DEIS evaluated four alternatives, including:

  1. No action
  2. The draft plan
  3. An alternative focused on natural processes
  4. An alternative focused on human uses

The draft forest plan reflects changes in social, economic and ecological conditions since the current plan was approved in 1985. It outlines the strategic management for 2.9 million acres of national forest for the next 10 to 15 years and reflects input from elected officials, tribes, community members and many others. The draft plan is built on a foundation of public input, best available science, and emphasizes multiple uses supported by healthy ecosystems. These ecosystems provide clean drinking water for downstream communities and help to fuel the forest products, grazing, and mining industries, and the recreation opportunities on the forest.

The official comment period was from December 13, 2019, through March 12, 2020.  During the comment period, the Tonto plan revision team held a series of public meetings to discuss the draft forest plan and DEIS and provide opportunities for comment. The Tonto National Forest received over 4,000 comment letters, including form and form plus letters, of which about 181 were unique.

Comments received during the comment period were reviewed and considered in the development of the Final Land Management Plan, Final Environmental Impact Statement, and Draft Record of Decision. Response to comments received can be found in Appendix A of the Final Environmental Impact Statement Volume 3.

Documents

Resources

GIS Data

This feature dataset includes features related to the Tonto National Forest draft forest plan and associated draft environmental impact statement. It includes administrative data (e.g., forest boundary, ranger district boundaries), management areas not changing by alternative (e.g., designated wilderness areas and Sierra Ancha Experimental Forest), and management areas specific for alternative A, alternative B, alternative C, and alternative D (e.g., recommended wilderness and the Lakes & Rivers Management Area).

Geospatial Data