Shoshone National Forest

USDA Forest Service
Shoshone National Forest
808 Meadowlane Ave
Cody, WY 82414
307-527-6241

Telephone for the
Hearing Impaired
307-578-5194

Forest Plan Revision

The Shoshone National Forest's Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) was approved in 1986. Since then, it's been amended 11 times. It's time the Plan was reviewed and revised.

Current activities

Update on October 16, 2009

The Shoshone's Forest Leadership Team has decided to continue revising the 1986 Forest Plan using the provisions of the 1982 planning rule. Though our management intent is clear, we are still in a holding pattern until we know what our funding level will be for plan revision in fiscal year 2010. The decision on which forests will receive funding should be made soon.

The level of funding will determine how quickly we can proceed with plan revision. Depending on the level of funding, public meetings may begin in March 2010 at the earliest. Please check this Web site for the latest information.

We appreciate your patience.

Update on August 14, 2009

To date, the Forest Service has not decided how to proceed relative to the 2008 planning rule's being vacated by the court. Per the court's instruction, the Forest Service has chosen a planning rule to apply in the interim. The transition language of the 2000 planning rule is available for national forests to use for plan revision and plan amendments. The transition language allows national forests to use the provisions of the 1982 plannng rule.

The Shoshone's leadership team is currently considering options. Sometime this fall, Shoshone leadership will decide whether to proceed with plan revision under the provisions of the 1982 planning rule. When the decision is made, we'll share that information, along with more specifics on what will happen next. Regardless of the decision, we do not expect to have public meetings on plan revision this year. As ever, thank you for your patience.

Update on July 10, 2009

As many of you have probably heard, the 2008 Planning Rule was vacated last week by a judge in the Northern District of California. The ruling is being reviewed in the Washington Office, but it may be some time before a decision is made on how to proceed.

What this means for the Shoshone's process is we will not proceed with the schedule to release our draft revised plan this fall. It is also unlikely we will hold any plan revision meetings for the remainder of 2009. If there are specific topics you would like to discuss related to plan revision that are not planning-rule specific, our planning team and line officers are available to engage in those discussions.

As always, our Web site is the best source for up-to-date information. We will continue to keep you updated. Thank you for your patience as our agency determines how to proceed.

If you have questions about the Shoshone's revision process, please call Bryan Armel at 307.578.5134 or Susie Douglas at 307.578.5114.

The June 30, 2009 court decision is available from the Forest Service planning Web site.

Materials from the May 2008 meetings are available on the archived meetings documents page.

Please visit these revision-related pages

What is a forest plan, and why revise it?

News releases about the Shoshone's Forest Plan revision

Steps in the revision process

Public involvement

Public input

Newsletters

Meeting information—dates, times, locations

Meetings—agenda, notes, documents

Plan revision documents