Planning

A forest plan is like a roadmap for managing a national forest. It’s a big-picture guide that lays out goals, rules, and strategies for everything from protecting wildlife to harvesting timber, fighting wildfires, and welcoming visitors. Required by the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976, these plans ensure the forest stays healthy and useful for nature and people alike. Think of it as a promise to balance hiking trails with grizzly habitats—or campfires with clean rivers—all based on science and public input.

Forest plans aren’t set in stone—they’re living documents that get a full overhaul about every 15-20 years. This keeps them fresh as conditions change, like new climate challenges or shifting community needs. Every few years, though, we tweak them with amendments to tackle specific issues (say, grizzly bear protection or sage-grouse habitat). The Caribou-Targhee’s latest big updates were in 2003 for the Caribou side and 1997 for the Targhee side, with smaller fixes since—like the 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse amendment.

You might wonder why Caribou-Targhee has two plans: the 2003 Caribou Revised Forest Plan and the 1997 Targhee Revised Forest Plan. It’s a tale of history and geography! Originally, the Caribou and Targhee were separate forests—Caribou in the south, Targhee in the north—each with its own vibe and challenges. Caribou’s got more sagebrush and phosphate mining, while Targhee’s heavy on Tetons and grizzly country. They merged in 2000 for efficiency, but their plans didn’t. Each kept its own because their landscapes and priorities differ—Caribou’s plan leans into grazing and mining, Targhee’s into wilderness and recreation. Updating both at once is a massive job, so they’ve stayed on separate tracks, tweaked as needed, until a full combined rewrite makes sense down the road.