Rocky Mountain Region

U.S. Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Region
740 Simms St
Golden, CO 80401
303-275-5350

TTD ⁄ TTY
Telephone for the
Hearing Impaired
303-275-5367

WHAT IS RECREATION FACILITIES ASSESSMENTS?

The US Forest Service has responsibility for providing safe recreation sites on our national forests and grasslands.  In order to do this, the Forest Service has developed National Quality Standards that help us manage these facilities.  There are Critical National Standards that if not met, the resulting conditions pose a high probability of immediate or permanent loss to people or property.  If they cannot be met, immediate action must be taken to correct or mitigate the problem.  Immediate action may include closing the site to public use.

These standards are basic health and safety requirement that all Forest Service sites must meet.  Beyond that there are special local conditions that require additional standards.  For example, in Colorado, the disease hantavirus is a very serious situation that we must make sure is considered when opening facilities to the public.  So the task of  removing animal droppings associated with hantavirus has been added as a regionally required standard.  The other two tasks added are to keep sites clean so bears are not attracted.

There are standards that are not health and safety standards but are listed because the Forest Service is subject to other environmental laws and regulations.

REGIONALLY REQUIRED QUALITY STANDARDS AND ASSOCIATED TASKS

Below is a table which describes the required National Quality Standards and Assigned Tasks which the US Forest Service must comply with while maintaining recreation sites. To view a larger .pdf version [254KB] of the table just click on the table.

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INFORMATIONAL LINKS

Select any of the links below to get more information regarding various other Standards that the US Forest Service must comply with.

• Recreation & Heritage Resources Integrated Business Systems - This information is intended for use by National Forest personneland contractors engaged in the RS-FMP process. The information is periodically updated and improved to meet evolving process needs.
• Colorado Department of Public Heath & Safety - Public drinking water standards which must be maintained in recreation sites.
• Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality - Public drinking water standards which must be maintained in recreation sites.
• South Dakota Department of Environment & Natural Resources - Public drinking water standards which must be maintained in recreation sites.
• Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality - Public drinking water standards which must be maintained in recreation sites.