forest plan revision and the draft bio-regional assessment

Sierra Cascades Dialog, May 30 2013

Deb Whitall

Region 5, Social Scientist

FOREST PLAN REVISION AND THE DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT

Assessment

Plan Revision

Monitoring

Three Phase Planning Process that is Continuous….

PLANNING PROCESS

PLANNING PROCESS

The 2012 Planning Rule directs that forest plans provide for social, economic, and ecological sustainability within Forest Service authority and consistent with the inherent capability of the plan area.

Sustainability is the capability to meet the needs of the present generation, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

PLANNING PROCESS

PLANNING PROCESS

What is an Assessment?

• A report synthesizing existing information related to social, economic, and ecological conditions and trends

• To be conducted rapidly, using readily available information and existing data

• Identify knowledge or information gaps

• Provides a source of information and context for plan revision

PLANNING PROCESS

While Forest-level assessments are required by the 2012 Planning Rule, there is no requirement for a Bio-Regional Assessment.

Based on input from stakeholders, input is being gathered and conclusions are being formed at this large scale to help guide forest plan revisions, and help identify overarching themes.

Assessment of the Sierra Cascades Bio-Region consists of three critical components:

1) 15 topic papers located on the “Living Assessment,”

2) Bio-Regional Assessment, and

3) Forest-level assessments

PLANNING PROCESS

PLANNING PROCESS

The 15 topic papers will continue to be developed throughout the planning process and provide an in-depth view of each topic while the Bio-Regional Assessment provides a snapshot of current conditions and trends associated with overarching themes identified by the Regional Planning Team.

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT

Overarching themes were identified by the Regional Planning Team by asking the following questions:

• Is it related to, and appropriately addressed at the bio-regional scale?

• Are stakeholders concerned about it?

• Is sustainability in question?

• Does it have linkages woven through the15 topic papers?

• Is it something that forest plans influence?

• Is it relative to the Leadership Intent for Ecological Restoration and the Planning Rule?

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT

Therefore, overarching themes identified in the Bio-Regional Assessment are:

• Consistent with the “Leadership Intent for Ecological Restoration,”

• Consistent among the 15 topic papers, and

• Focus on sustainability and integration of social, economic, and ecological integrity as directed by the 2012 Planning Rule.

The Draft Bio-Regional Assessment identifies five overarching themes:

• water quality and quantity;

• fire resilience;

• ecological integrity;

• sustainable recreation; and

• community resilience.

Assessments use a “course filter” approach to identify current conditions and trends.

Trends identified in the Bio-Regional Assessment are increasing, decreasing, or stable.

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT

For example, a trend identified under the overarching theme “sustainable recreation”:

“In California, activities such as off-highway-vehicle (OHV) recreation, mountain biking, boating and adventure recreation has increased dramatically in recent years; while at the same time population growth, urbanization and alternative energy production compete for suitable lands.”

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. 2010. California’s Forests and Rangelands: 2010 Assessment. Fire and Resource Assessment Program, Sacramento, CA.

Timber is an example where a specific issue is covered in a variety of ways, under multiple themes, particularly Fire Resilience, Community Resilience, and Ecological Integrity.

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT

The Bio-Regional Assessment provides a backdrop for the “early adopter” Forests (Inyo, Sierra, and Sequoia) on management themes that cross boundaries, and will allow those Forests to integrate this overarching story as they develop their Forest Assessments.

Returning to the continuous planning cycle, Forest Assessments lead to the NEPA phase of forest plan revision.

PLANNING PROCESS

PLANNING PROCESS

• Plan Revisions are programmatic in nature and do not make site specific decisions.

• Forest Plans consist of one decision that includes Five Plan Components: Desired Conditions, Objectives, Suitability of Uses, Standards, and Guidelines.

PLANNING PROCESS

And other plan content such as:

• Management Area’s/Zones/Places/Geographic Areas

• Recommended Area’s (Wilderness, Wild &Scenic, etc.)

• Priority Watersheds

• Distinctive Roles and Contributions

• Monitoring Plans

The first step in the NEPA phase is to identify the “need to change” existing forest plans.

PLANNING PROCESS

PLANNING PROCESS

The “Notice of Intent” (NOI) to prepare an EIS and revised land management plan is the mechanism used by the responsible official (Forest Supervisor) to identify the scope of issues that “need to change” an existing forest plan.

We expect to publish a NOI for each early adopter national forest early next year.

PLANNING PROCESSPlan Revision Phase:

• Proposed Plan (Need for Change)

• Niche Descriptions – What is the role of the FS? Tribes? State? Counties? Communities? Others?

• Desired Conditions, Strategies, Objectives, Zones or Management Areas, Special Area Designations, Suitability of uses…

• Analysis of alternative approaches to achieving Desired Conditions, Description of Effects…

• Draft Environmental Impact Statement…

• Formal 90 Day Public Comment period…

BEST AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION (BASI) AND FOREST PLANNING

The 2012 Planning Rule requires the use of BASI in the development of Forest Planning documents.

Scientific information used in the planning process comes from a variety of sources with differing degrees of scientific certainty and can include:

• peer reviewed scientific literature,

• government reports,

• professional associations and interest groups, and

• the public.

BEST AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION (BASI) AND FOREST PLANNING

To support the scientific basis of the Assessment, the Region sponsored a Science Synthesis, researched and written by scientists at the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service.

At the time of the writing of the Bio-Regional Assessment, the Science Synthesis was still in draft form. http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/reports/psw_sciencesynthesis2013/

BEST AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION (BASI) AND FOREST PLANNING

The Science Synthesis integrates scientific information across disciplines to inform managers and stakeholders.

The Research Station provided additional review opportunities after the Draft Science Synthesis was released, and expects to publish a final version in late July, early August.

This document will be used during the NEPA phase of forest plan revision.

An addendum to the Science Synthesis is currently underway.

The addendum will cover the Great Basin and High Desert and provide a comprehensive synthesis of the Inyo National Forest and other forests with lands east of the Sierra crest (Modoc, Lassen and Humboldt Toiyabe).

BEST AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION (BASI) AND FOREST PLANNING

BEST AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION (BASI) AND FOREST PLANNING

Natural Range of Variation (NRV) assessments were developed by the Pacific SW Region Ecology Program for 11 terrestrial ecosystems, using historical information (primarily from the pre-Euroamerican period) as well as information from contemporary reference ecosystems.

BEST AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION (BASI) AND FOREST PLANNING

NRV assessments provide baseline information on ecosystem conditions (composition, structure, and function) that can be compared to current conditions to develop an idea of trend over time.

These trend assessments form the basis for the assessment of ecological integrity.

TRAVEL ANALYSIS PROCESS (TAP) AND FOREST PLANNING

• The Travel Management Rule and Planning Rule are separate and not interdependent.

• Completion of Travel Management, Subpart A is not required for a Forest Plan Revision.

TRAVEL ANALYSIS PROCESS (TAP) AND FOREST PLANNING

The travel analysis process can provide useful information to the plan revision process including:

• up-to-date road information, and

• increased understanding of road-related issues.

TRAVEL ANALYSIS PROCESS (TAP) AND FOREST PLANNING

Depending on the issues driving a “need to change” the existing forest plan, the responsible official’s decision (five plan components) could influence future project-level decisions concerning motorized use.

TRAVEL ANALYSIS PROCESS (TAP) AND FOREST PLANNING

In other words, a forest plan revision will not make site-specific decisions on motorized use, but could influence future project-level decisions concerning motorized use based on the five plan components (Desired Conditions, Objectives, Suitability of Uses, Standards, and Guidelines).

EFFECTS OF THE 2012 PLANNING RULE ON THE SIERRA NEVADA FRAMEWORK (SNF)

• The SNF is not a stand-alone document.

• It is the instrument used to amend individual forest plans in the Sierra Nevada.

• Standards and Guidelines in the SNF are incorporated into individual plans by those amendments.

EFFECTS OF THE 2012 PLANNING RULE ON THE SIERRA NEVADA FRAMEWORK (SNF)

As forest plans are revised, guidance in the Sierra Nevada Framework will be evaluated and may be revised as necessary.

Changes to that direction will occur through the normal NEPA process, as a routine part of forest plan revision.

Boundaries identified and discussed in the Draft Bio-Regional Assessment differ between the natural and human environment.

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT BOUNDARIES

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT BOUNDARIES

• The boundary of the Sierra Nevada bio-region is the full study area boundary used in the 1996 Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP) final report to Congress.

• Socioeconomic data for the counties that intersect this boundary were used.

DRAFT BIO-REGIONAL ASSESSMENT BOUNDARIES

The scale of discussion also differs between the Draft Bio-Regional Assessment and Forest-Level Assessments. For example:

• At the bio-regional scale, communities in the WUI are found to be economically dependent on key forest sectors such as timber, mining, grazing and recreation.

• Within the bio-region, some communities in the northern region specialize in natural resource sectors such as agriculture, forestry and mining.

• In the central and southern areas, there is more focus on travel and tourism.

• Forest-level assessments will provide greater detail concerning specific communities within the WUI and the key economic forest sectors they depend on.

THANK YOU