Assessment Phase

The Blue Mountains National Forests initiated plan revision under the 2012 Planning Rule on July 31, 2023, with a notice of intent to prepare an assessment. The purpose of the Assessment Phase is to gather existing relevant information on Forest conditions and trends and use this information to rapidly evaluate the sustainability of existing ecological, economic, and social conditions and trends within the context of the broader landscape. The evaluation will result in a document (referred to as the assessment) that will be the foundation for the Forest Service’s work on developing the revised Land Management Plans. Public involvement in the assessment phase will help the Forest Service gain local knowledge about existing forest conditions and understand concerns about community or resource impacts from proposed changes in the revised Land Management Plans. 

The Draft Assessment, and the following inventories required by the 2012 planning rule: Lands That May Have Wilderness Characteristics, Species of Conservation Concern, and Wild and Scenic Rivers, were released on March 25, 2024, and open for public feedback until May 26, 2024. Input gathered from the feedback period and the eight public meetings held in April were used to revise the Draft Assessment, refine inventories, and help to inform the need to change the existing land management plan. 

The Need to Change

The Final Assessment Summary, Final Assessment Reports, and the draft Preliminary Need to Change were released October 4, 2024. The need to change is provided to the public as we transition from the Assessment Phase into Plan Revision and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, helps define the proposed action, purpose and need, and decision framework for the subsequent environmental analysis. An informal feedback period was held from October 8 - November 7, 2024, on the draft Preliminary Need to Change.

Feedback will be used to refine the Need to Change, which establishes the framework for the development of plan content. The Need to Change and the Preliminary Draft Land Management Plan (proposed action) will be released with the Federal Register Notice of Intent (NOI) to revise the Land Management Plans and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in early 2025, beginning 60-day formal scoping period.

Resources

Documents

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