Planning
The White Mountain National Forest serves many uses: it provides clean air and water; it is home to fish, wildlife, and plants; it offers opportunities for recreation and for solitude; it supplies vital timber products.
To manage such diversity, ensuring that the needs of the whole ecosystem are met, the Forest Service develops a Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan). Foresters, wildlife and fish biologists, landscape architects, archaeologists and historians, botanists, soil and water scientists, hikers, rock climbers, skiers, engineers, and many others contribute to the Plan, determining what areas of the Forest are suitable for the many uses sought by the public.
The entire 2005 Forest Plan is available as PDFs of each section.
Forest Plan Documents:
- Front Matter / Preface
- Chapter 1 - Goals and Objectives
- Chapter 2 - Forest-wide Management Direction
- Chapter 3 - Management Area Direction
- Chapter 4 - Monitoring and Evaluation
- Glossary
- Index
Appendices:
- Appendix A - Summary Analysis of the Management Situation
- Appendix B - Proposed and Probable Practices
- Appendix C - Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers
- Appendix D - Age Class Definitions by Habitat Type
- Appendix E - Wilderness Management Plan
- Appendix F - Disposition of 1986 Forest Plan Management Indicator Species
- Appendix G - Vegetation Interpretations by Forest Habitat Types
- Appendix H - Third and Fourth Order Streams
The Forest Plan may be amended at any time (36 CFR §219.13). Plan amendments may be broad or narrow, depending on the need for change, and should be used to keep plans current and help adapt to new information or changing conditions. The responsible official has the discretion to determine whether and how to amend the plan and to determine the scope and scale of any amendment. Except in the case of an administrative change, a plan amendment is required to add, modify, or remove one or more plan components, or to change how or where one or more plan components apply to all or part of the plan area (including management areas or geographic areas). Plans are amended consistent with Forest Service National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures. The appropriate NEPA documentation for an amendment may be an environmental impact statement, an environmental assessment, or a categorical exclusion, depending upon the scope and scale of the amendment and its likely effects (36 CFR §220.4 et seq.).
Administrative changes include corrections of clerical errors to any part of the plan, conformance of the plan to new statutory or regulatory requirements, or changes to other content in the plan (36 CFR §219.7(f)). They are not plan amendments or revisions, and do not require the preparation of an environmental document under NEPA. Administrative changes include: corrections of clerical errors, changes to bring the Plan into conformance with new laws or regulatory requirements, and other changes to any aspect of the Plan except: desired conditions, goals, objectives, standards, guidelines, and suitable lands (Plan Components 36 CFR 219.7).
Administrative Changes
Administrative Changes Prior to 2012
- Typographical Errors
- Wildlife Habitat Objectives
- Non-Motorized Trails
- Redundant Forest-wide Guidelines
- Bicknell's Thrush Habitat in Glossary
- Trails Guideline 4
- Monitoring Plan
- Management Area Acreage
- Wilderness Management Plan
- Vegetation Management Guidelines
- Vernal Pools in Glossary
Administrative Changes Since 2012
- Trail Level Guidance
- Revised Monitoring Plan
- Management Area Update - Success, NH
- Wilderness Management Plan
- Management Area Mapping Error
- Management Area Update – Hudson Farm, Etna, NH
Amendments
Amendments Completed Prior to 2012
- 12/23/2010 - McCrillis Path Relocation Project
Amendments Completed Since 2012
- 06/21/2013 - Waterville Valley Ski Resort Green Peak Expansion Project
- 05/17/2015 - Administrative Radio Repeater Improvement Project
- 03/17/2017 - Waterville Valley Resort High Country Lift Replacement Project
- 02/26/2020 - Hudson Farm Prescribed Fire Project
- 06/05/2020 - Forest Plan Amendment: Whole Tree Removal from Developed Recreation and Forest Service Administrative Sites Project
The Forest Plan Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) documents the analysis of effects of alternatives considered for plan revision that was completed in 2005. The Final EIS executive summary presents the information in an abbreviated document. The EIS appendices include additional information used to analyze effects of alternatives as well as a summary of public comments received in response to the Draft EIS and Proposed Forest Plan.
Final Environmental Impact Statement Documents:
- Executive Summary
- Front Matter / Preface
- Chapter 1 - Purpose and Need
- Chapter 2 - Alternatives
- Chapter 3 - Environmental Effects
- Chapter 4 - Contributors
- Chapter 5 - Groups and Individuals Contacted
- Glossary
- Literature Cited
- Index
Final Environmental Impact Statement Appendices:
- Appendix A - Public Involvement
- Appendix B - Analysis Process
- Appendix C - Inventoried Roadless Area Evaluation
- Appendix D - Transportation System
- Appendix E - Suited and Non-Suited Lands
- Appendix F - Species Viability
- Appendix G - Biological Evaluation
- Appendix H - ROS Classes
- Appendix I - Strategic Plan
- Appendix J - Third and Fourth Order Streams
These reports are part of the Forest Planning process and are completed annually except during Forest Plan revision. They provide the feedback necessary to ensure that our management actions are moving the White Mountain National Forest toward the desired future condition described in the Forest Plan.
- Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2007 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2010 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2011 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Report - Delay Notification
- Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report
- Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report
In 2005, Regional Forester Randy Moore, signed the Record of Decision (ROD) formally documenting his selection of the alternatives to become the revised Forest Plan for the White Mountain National Forest.