Natural Resources
Each national forest and national grassland is governed by a land and resource management plan in accordance with the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). These plans outline management direction, including desired future conditions, suitable uses, monitoring requirements, goals and objectives, and standards and guidelines. Monitoring of conditions on a national forest or national grassland ensures projects are done in accordance with plan direction and determines effects that might require a change in management direction.
Forest and Grassland Land and Resource Management Plans
The Medicine Bow National Forest, Routt National Forest, and Thunder Basin National Grassland each have separate plans. Monitoring reports are completed every two years for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland. To view these plans and reports, see the Planning page.
Landscape Vegetation Analysis (LaVA)
LaVA was developed to respond to unprecedented landscape-level tree mortality from bark beetles and other forest health issues that have affected hundreds of thousands of acres across the Medicine Bow National Forest since the late 1990s.