National Forest Management Act (NFMA)

The National Forest Management Act requires the Secretary of Agriculture to assess forest lands, develop a management program based on multiple-use, sustained-yield principles, and implement a resource management plan for each unit of the National Forest System. It is the primary statute governing the administration of National Forests.

New Forest Planning Rule Development

The National Forest Management Act of 1976 requires every national forest and grassland managed by the USDA Forest Service to develop and maintain a Land Management Plan (also known as a Forest Plan). The Planning Rule outlines the process for the developing, revising and amending forest plans, as well as the required content of forest plans. Individual forests and grasslands follow the direction of the Planning Rule to develop a land management plan specific to their unit. The US Forest Service recently began the process of developing a new planning rule to guide Forest Service land managers in developing, amending, and revising land management plans for the 155 national forests and 20 grasslands in the National Forest System. Information on this effort can be found at: fs.usda.gov/planningrule.

Eastern Region Forest Plans

Allegheny National Forest	Hoosier National Forest	Shawnee National Forest
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest	Huron-Manistee National Forest	Superior National Forest
Chippewa National Forest	Mark Twain National Forest	Wayne National Forest
Finger Lakes National Forest	Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie	White Mountain National Forest
Green Mountain National Forest	Monongahela National Forest
Hiawatha National Forest	Ottawa National Forest

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is our basic charter for protection of the environment. It establishes policy, sets goals, and provides means for carrying out the policy. The NEPA provides the direction to help public officials make decisions that are based on an understanding of the environmental consequences, and take actions that protect, restore, and enhance the environment. NEPA procedures require that environmental information is available to citizens before decisions are made and actions are taken that may affect the human environment. The decisions that implement forest plans are supported by compliance with the NEPA.

For more information, including Forest Service procedures for complying with the NEPA, visit the Forest Service NEPA website. More general information on the NEPA is available from the Council on Environmental Quality's NEPAnet website, including the Citizen's Guide to the NEPA.

Eastern Region Schedule of Proposed Actions (SOPA)

For information on proposed forest plan implementation projects in the Eastern Region, visit the Forest Service Schedule of Proposed Actions (SOPA) website. Select the National Forests of interest to you from the map or drop-down lists.

Appeals and Objections

An appeal is a request to an agency higher authority for review of an environmental decision. Objections are written documents submitted by an individual or organization seeking a pre-decisional administrative review of a proposed hazardous fuel reduction project authorized by the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA).

For information on appeals, visit the Forest Service Appeal Information website. For information on objections, visit the Forest Service Objection Information website.

Eastern Region Appeals and Objections

For information on the disposition of appeals of decisions by National Forests in the Eastern Region, visit the Forest Service Appeal Responses website. For information on the disposition of objections to proposals by National Forests in the Eastern Region, visit the Forest Service Objection Responses website.