Forest Service Announces Preferred Alternative for a New Planning Rule

Today, the Forest Service announced its Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for land management planning for the National Forest System. USDA and Forest Service staff carefully considered nearly 300,000 comments received on the proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement to develop a preferred alternative, which is included in the PEIS. The PEIS,... Read More

Public Submits Nearly 300,000 Comments on the Proposed Rule

Public submits nearly 300,000 comments on the Proposed Rule The 90-day comment period on the proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement closed on May 16, 2011. Comments were received from a wide range of individuals, groups, and organizations, as well as state, county, Tribal, and federal governments. The Forest Service is currently reviewing and analyzing these... Read More

Proposed Rule Released: Continuing Engagement to Collaboratively Develop the Forest Service Planning Rule

A message from Forest Service Associate Chief Mary Wagner The wait is over! The U.S. Forest Service unveiled its proposed Forest Planning Rule today. This proposed rule is the outcome of the most participatory planning rule development process in Forest Service history. Based on your feedback gathered online and during more than 40 public meetings hosted across the nation, we think... Read More

Update on planning rule development — Nov 2010

We’ve been getting a number of inquiries as to when folks should expect to see the proposed planning rule published. As you know, we’ve been working hard to develop a science-based proposed rule that reflects the breadth of input gathered through more than 26,000 comments on the Notice of Intent, over 40 public meetings, and ongoing Tribal consultation. We had previously... Read More

A New Phase in the Planning Rule Development Process — Aug 2010

We’ve learned a tremendous amount through the input we’ve received on this blog and through the other public involvement we’ve had since the Notice of Intent (NOI) was issued last December.  We received over 26,000 written comments on the NOI, over 300 blog comments and have had over 40 public meetings attended by over 3000 people.  We’ve worked hard to get input from... Read More

Directions for the Fourth Roundtable — July 2010

The Fourth National Roundtable took place July 29-30 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Dupont Circle Hotel at 1143 New Hampshire Ave, NW in the New Hampshire Ballroom.  Online discussions also took place as part of the meeting.  Read More