Status Update: October 29, 2009
Greetings!
It has been awhile since many of you have heard from us and we have been getting a lot of questions regarding the status of Forest Plan Revisions in California. As you may recall, we began work on a number of projects last summer including:
- Moving forward with an aggressive Regional Forest Plan Revision schedule for the Sierra Nevada Forests, the northern California Forests and southern California;
- Moving ahead with Plan Revisions for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and the Modoc National Forest, and amending the Forest Plan for the Sequoia National Forest;
- Developing a public participation strategy for the revision of the Inyo National Forest;
- Developing a public participation strategy for the Sierra Nevada bio-regional assessment of resource conditions and trends.
Since July 2009 much has happened that is affecting our ability to move ahead with Forest Plan Revisions in California including:
- The 2008 Planning Rule was enjoined by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and the 2000 Planning Rule, with transition language for the use of the 1982 Planning Rule procedures, was reinstated.
- Travel Management Subpart B process is approaching conclusion, with the same staff and resources that would be involved in Forest Plan Revision.
- There is concern that Travel Management Subpart A be addressed prior to Forest Plan Revisions. Forests have been asked to complete an assessment that will help determine schedule and process for complying with Travel Management Subpart A requirements. The Forest assessments have been completed and are currently being evaluated in the Regional Office.
- Court remedy hearings for Sierra Nevada Framework and the Southern California Forest Plans have not been completed and court orders will likely have a bearing on Forest Plan Revision process and schedule.
What this means is that the Regional Office is in the process of sorting all of this information out so that we can more accurately determine when the various projects including, Forest Plan Revision, can be completed. In the meantime, the Region has tentatively decided to:
- Complete the Lake Tahoe Basin Plan Revision using 1982 planning rule procedures;
- Continue the revision of the Modoc National Forest Plan;
- Complete the Plan for the Giant Sequoia National Monument which would amend the Forest Plan.
- We plan to move ahead with the Sierra Nevada bio-regional assessment of the conditions and trends of forest resources, however we do not expect to initiate that effort until we know the status of Travel Management and the court remedy hearings.
We will continue to provide periodic updates as new information is available. Thank you for your continued interest and involvement.
For more information please contact us at region5planning@fs.fed.us or visit us online at: www.fs.fed.us/r5/planning.
