Planning and Landscape Architecture Resources

This web page provides information, tools, and research on a variety of topics related to planning and landscape architecture for sustainable recreation outcomes. Please contact the National Recreation Planner or Chief Landscape Architect if you have questions.

Built Environment

Built Environment Image Guide (BEIG)

The BEIG, the Forest Service guide to planning and designing facilities, exemplifies the agency's concern, responsibility, and tradition in conservation, stewardship and sustainability. The guide instructs planners and designers on how to assure that facilities and developed recreation sites on National Forests fit the land, portray a national image and identity for the agency and utilize state of the art sustainability practices. Beyond being an agency tool, the BEIG is of value to contractors and permit holders, so its value extends beyond the realm of the Forest Service landscape architects.

• Built Environment Image Guide (web version)

• Built Environment Image Guide (PDF, 21.3MB)

Link to documents: RHVR WO Staff Working Site - Built Environment Image Guide - All Documents (sharepoint.com - Internal Only)

Benefits and Ecosystem Services

• The flexible recreationist: The adaptability of outdoor recreation benefits to non-ideal outdoor recreation settings (.pdf, 706 KB)

• Changing Relationships with Wilderness (.pdf, 103 KB)

• Addressing Ecosystem Services and Social and Economic Sustainability in Forest Plan Components and Environmental Analysis (.pdf, 397 KB)

• Evaluating Ecosystem Services as Management Outcomes in National Forest and Grassland Planning Assessments PNW-GTR-968 (.pdf, 1.09 MB)

• Links to Tools and information: Benefits and Ecosystem Services (.pdf, 183 KB)

• Federal Outdoor Recreation Trends: Effects on Economic Opportunities PNW-GTR-968 (.pdf, 4.49 MB)

• Recreation Economic Values for Estimating Outdoor Recreation Economic Benefits From the National Forest System PNW-GTR-957 (.pdf, 2.32 MB)

• Recreation Economy Resource Guide (.pdf, 633 KB)

• How to Develop Social, Cultural, and Economic Forest Plan Components (.pdf, 603 KB)

• Community Based Research for an Urban Recreation Application of Benefits-Based Management (.pdf, 47 KB)

Monitoring

• Forest Resources of the United States, 2017 (.pdf, 15.7 MB)

• Inventory, Monitoring ,and Assessment Strategy (.pdf, 573 KB)

• Monitoring Guidebook: Evaluating Effectiveness of Visitor Use Management, Edition 1 (.pdf, 3.14 MB)

• Monitoring Guidebook: Evaluating Effectiveness of Visitor Use Management, Primer (.pdf, 2.16 MB)

• Monitoring Links (.pdf, 117 KB)

• Information Needs Assessment: National Management Questions (.docx, 3.80 MB)

• Sustainable Recreation Information Needs Assessment Recommendations to inform the National Inventory, Monitoring, Assessment Strategy (.pdf, 688 KB)

Place Based Planning

• Place-Based Planning:Innovations and Applications From Four Western Forests (.pdf, 2.76 MB)

• Making Conservation a Part of Placemaking

• New Approaches to Forest Planning: Inventorying and Mapping Place Values in the Pacific Northwest Region (.pdf, 2.38 MB)

• The relationship between place attachment and landscape values: Toward mapping place attachment (.pdf, 859 KB)

• Place and Place-based Planning (.pdf, 102 KB)

• SENSE OF PLACE: Public Use Planning – US Partnership for Protected Area Planning (.pdf, 4.38 MB)

Public Engagement

• A Need for Culturally Responsive Approaches (.pdf, 53 MB)

• A Citizen's A Citizens’ Guide to National Forest Planning (.pdf, 309 MB)

• Culturally Responsive Program Planning (.pdf, 469 KB)

• Understanding Your Opportunities for Participating in the Forest Service Planning Process (.pdf, 12.9 MB)

• Public Engagement Update, February 2019 (.pdf, 323 KB)

• Protocol for Social Vulnerability Assessment to Support National Forest Planning and Management: A Technical Manual for Engaging the Public to Understand Ecosystem Service Trade-offs and Drivers of Change (.pdf, 10.7 MB)

• A Reference Guide to Forest Service Public Engagement in a Virtual Environment (.pdf, 752 KB)

• Public Engagement Reference Guide, FS-1117 (.pdf, 8.59 MB)

• Public Engagement Training Catalog (.pdf, 437 KB)

• Recreation Equity: Is the Forest Service Serving Its Diverse Publics? (.pdf, 4.71 MB)

• Elevating Outdoor Recreation Together (.pdf, 3.47 MB)

Recreation and Climate Change

• Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Approaches for Outdoor Recreation (.pdf, 1.22 MB)

• Climate Change and Social Vulnerability (.pdf, 1.59 MB)

• The Effects of Climate Change on Outdoor Recreation in the United States (.pdf, 6.56 MB)

  • Recorded Webinar

• Regional Example Integrating Recreation with R1 Climate Change Strategy (.pdf, 1.35 MB)

• Socioeconomic Vulnerability to Ecological Changes to National Forests and Grasslands in the Southwest, RMRS-GTR-383 (.pdf, 10.4 MB)

• Potential Effects of Climate on Downhill Skiing and Snowboarding Demand and Value at U.S. National Forests (.pdf, 855 KB)

Emerging Recreation Science

• The Relationship between Amount of Visitor Use and Environmental Impacts by David N. Cole

• The Relationship between Amount of Visitor Use and Social Impacts by Stewart Allen

• Impacts to Wildlife: Managing Visitors and Resources to Protect Wildlife by Jeffrey L. Marion

• Sustaining wildlife with recreation on public lands: a synthesis of research findings, management practices, and research needs
  Miller, Anna B.; King, David; Rowland, Mary; Chapman, Joshua; Tomosy, Monica; Liang, Christina; Abelson, Eric S.; Truex, Richard L. 2020. Sustaining wildlife with recreation on public lands: a synthesis of research findings, management practices, and research needs. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-993. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 226 p.

• A research strategy for enhancing sustainable recreation and tourism on public lands.
  Cerveny, Lee K.; Derrien, Monika M.; Miller, Anna B., eds. 2020. A research strategy for enhancing sustainable recreation and tourism on public lands. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-991. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 102 p.

• Igniting research for outdoor recreation: linking science, policy, and action.
  Selin, Steven; Cerveny, Lee K.; Blahna, Dale J.; Miller, Anna B., eds. 2020. Igniting research for outdoor recreation: linking science, policy, and action. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-987. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 257 p.

Recreation in Land Management Planning

2012 Planning Rule and Directives

• Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) (PDF, 1.97 MB)

• Requirements Cheat Sheet by Topic - March 2015 (PDF, 495 KB)

• Final Rule - April 9, 2012 (PDF, 206 KB)

• Final Rule, Preamble - April 9, 2012 (PDF, 2.25 MB)

• Forest Service Handbook (FSH) 1909.12 - LAND MANAGEMENT PLANNING HANDBOOK

• Forest Service Manual (FSM) 1920 – LAND MANAGEMENT PLANNING

• Forest Service Manual (FSM) 2310, Amended 2020 - Sustainable Recreation Planning

Tools and Examples

• CHEAT SHEET, Recreation-Related Direction in FSM 1920 and FSH 1909.12 (PDF, 333 KB)

• Examples of Forest-wide Plan Components by ROS Class (DOCX, 23.67 KB)

• Evaluating Ecosystem Services as Management Outcomes in National Forest and Grassland Planning Assessments, PNW-GTR-968 (PDF, 1.09 MB)

• CHEAT SHEET, 2012 Planning Rule Direction Related to Recreation Programs (DOCX, 29.8 KB)

• Technical Guide: How to Develop Social, Cultural, and Economic Forest Plan Components (PDF, 603 KB)

Training Modules - Sustainable Recreation in LMPs

• Introduction and Overview (PPTX, 79 MB)

• Module 1: History and Foundational Principles of Sustainable Recreation (PPTX, 117 MB)

• Module 2: Land Management Plans (LMPs) (PPTX, 23 MB)

• Module 3: Sustainable Recreation in a LMP (PPTX, 39 MB)

• Module 4: Gathering and Updating Relevant Recreation Data (PPTX, 63 MB)

• Module 4a: ROS Short Course (PPTX, 90 MB)

• Module 4b: SMS Short Course (PPTX, 191 MB)

• Module 4c: NVUM Short Course (PPTX, 122 MB)

• Module 5: Assessment (PPTX, 109 MB)

• Module 6: Part I - Plan Development (PPTX, 74 MB)

• Module 6: Part II - FEIS (PPTX, 25 MB)

• Module 7: Implementation (PPTX, 44 MB)

• Module 8: Monitoring (PPTX, 29 MB)

Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS)

• Definitions by ROS Class (DOCX, 14.6 KB)

• Examples of ROS Related Plan Components (DOCX, 22.4 KB)

• Mapping Protocol for Existing Summer ROS (DOCX, 6.5 MB)

• Mapping Protocol for Existing Winter ROS (DOCX, 2.7 MB)

• Setting Characteristics Table (DOCX, 19.7 KB)

Scenery Management

Implementation Guide Examples

• R5 SMS Implementation Process (DOCX, 472 KB)

• Coronado National Forest Scenery Management System Implementation Guide (PDF, 3.25 MB)

• IPNF Implementation Guide for Scenery Management (PDF, 7.76 MB)

• Implementation Guide for Scenery Management under the Kootenai National Forest 2015 Land Management Plan (PDF, 4.13 MB)

• Restoring and Maintaining a Resilient Scenic Landscape: Ecological (Landscape Ecology) Context for Scenery Management (DOCX, 55.66 MB)

Research

• Assessing Forest Scenic Beauty Impacts of Insects and Management, FHTET 98-08 (.pdf, 163 KB)

• Beyond Sustaining Beauty, Elizabeth K. Meyer (.pdf, 10.7 MB)

• Combining Silviculture and Landscape Architecture to Enhance the Roadside View, PSW-RP-235 (.pdf, 4.63 MB)

• An Ecological Aesthetic for Forest Landscape Management, Landscape Journal. 18(1): 54-64 (.pdf, 1.00 MB)

• Forests and Landscapes: Linking Ecology, Sustainability and Aesthetics (.pdf, 576 KB)

• Forest Aesthetic Indicators in Sustainable Forest Management Standards (.pdf, 237 KB)

• Social Science to Improve Fuels Management: A Synthesis of Research on Aesthetics and Fuels Management, GTR-NC-261 (.pdf, 6.38 MB)

• Whither Scenic Beauty? Visual Landscape Quality Assessment in the 21st Century

Scenery Compensation

• Scenery Compensation Approach, Angeles National Forest 2020 (.pptx, 9.98 MB)

• Establishment of Loss of Scenic Integrity Caused by Non-Conforming Project Features (.pdf, 546 KB)

SMS Manual and Handbook

• Forest Service Manual, Chapter 2380 - Landscape Management

• Landscape Aesthetics: A Handbook for Scenery Management, AH-701 (.pdf, 9.77 MB)

• Vintage - National Forest Landscape Management, Agricultural Handbook 434

  • Volume 1 - General Concepts

  • Volume 2 - Chapter 1, Big Eye Book (.pdf, 3.05 MB)

  • Volume 2 - Chapter 2, Utilities (.pdf, 21.7 MB)

  • Volume 2 - Chapter 3, Range (.pdf, 9.15 MB)

  • Volume 2 - Chapter 4, Roads (.pdf, 13.8 MB)

  • Volume 2 - Chapter 5, Timber (.pdf, 13.6 MB)

  • Volume 2 - Chapter 6, Fire (.pdf, 5.33 MB)

  • Volume 2 - Chapter 7, Ski Areas (.pdf, 3.96 MB)

  • Volume 2 - Chapter 8, Recreation (.pdf, 6.6 MB)

Tools and Best Practices

• Appendix J, Recommended SMS Refinements (PDF, 1.21 MB)

• BLM Oil and Gas Best Management Practices, Participant Notebook, Field Reference Guide (PDF, 4.78 MB)

• Scenic Resource Mitigation Menu & Design Considerations For Vegetation Treatments (PDF, 481 KB)

• 3-D Visual Overlay Modeling Using Google Earth, ArcMap and Photoshop Software (PDF, 3.48 MB)

Sustainable Recreation Strategies

• National Sustainable Recreation Framework (PDF, 131KB)

• Southwestern Region Sustainable Recreation Strategy (PDF, 689 KB)

• Coronado National Forest Sustainable Recreation Action Plan 2021-2025

  • Coronado National Forest - Recreation

  • Sustainable Recreation Action Plan (PDF, 1.32 MB)

• Region 6 Sustainable Recreation Strategy Summary (PDF, 5.45 MB)

• Region 8 Sustainable Recreation Strategy Executive Summary (PDF, 9.71 MB)

• Eastern Regional Sustainable Recreation Reimagined

• Leaders' Intent: Recreation, Wilderness and Heritage Program Management in the Alaska Region (PDF, 589 KB)

Visitor Use Management Planning

• Interagency Visitor Use Management Council (IVUMC) Overview (PDF, 263 KB)

• Overview of the Interagency Visitor Use Council (IVUMC) and Recently Developed Tools, January 2020 (PPTX, 23.25 MB)

• Monitoring Guidebook: Evaluating Effectiveness of Visitor Use Management, Edition 1 (PDF, 3.14 MB)

• Monitoring Guidebook: Evaluating Effectiveness of Visitor Use Management, Primer (PDF, 2.16 MB)

• Visitor Capacity Guidebook, Edition 1 (PDF, 3.76 MB)

• Visitor Capacity Guidebook, Primer (PDF, 1.29 MB)

• Visitor Use Management Framework, Edition 1 (PDF, 3.14 MB)

• Visitor Use Management Framework, Primer (PDF, 386 KB)