1998 Explanatory Notes USDA, Forest Service Appropriation Language For necessary expenses of the Forest Service, not otherwise provided for, for management, protection, improvement, and utilization of the National Forest System, for ecosystem planning, inventory, and monitoring, and for administrative expenses associated with the management of funds provided under the heads "Forest and Rangeland Research," "State and Private Forestry," "National Forest System," "Wildland Fire Management," "Reconstruction and Construction," and "Land Acquisition, $1,325,672,000, to remain available until expended, which shall include 50 percentum of all monies received during prior fiscal years as fees collected under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended, in accordance with section 4 of the Act (16 U.S.C. 4601-6a(i): Provided, That up to $5,000,000 of the funds provided herein for road maintenance shall be available for the planned obliteration of roads which are no longer needed: Provided further, That funds may be used to construct or reconstruct facilities of the Forest Service: Provided further, That no more than $250,000 shall be used on any single project, exclusive of planning and design costs: Provided further, That the Forest Service shall report annually to Congress the amount obligated for each project, and the total dollars obligated during the year. 1998 Explanatory Notes USDA, Forest Service Land Management Planning, Inventory, and Monitoring (LMPIM) 1998 Explanatory Notes USDA Forest Service Within the Forest Service, distribution of the LMPIM funds to the Regions is heavily influenced (70% of total) by the number of acres actually located within each Region, as well as Forest Plan requirements. The number of acres within each Region is a tangible proxy for the amount of effort needed for planning, inventory and assessments, and monitoring. Additional complexity factors (30% of total for each Region) are: the number of ecosubregions present, a boundary/acre index, and urban proximity of each Region's forests, all of which likewise influence planning, monitoring, inventory and assessments. (1) Forest Planning and Amendments The management of the nation's resources is highly complex. National Forest plans are important to society, the economy and the natural resources. Recognizing this, the National Forest Management Act requires that each forest have a Land and Resources Management Plan (Forest Plan). The Plans establish a framework to harmonize laws and regulations governing National Forest management (i.e., National Forest Management Act (NFMA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws). The interaction of these laws and regulations often leads to controversy surrounding forest planning and land use. Forest Plans do not resolve all disagreements over the management of the National Forests, but they do develop long-term strategies while recognizing the need to make short-term decisions. Forest planning helps focus issues and lead to informed choices. The plans provide a context for future site-specific project decisions. The uses, demand, and supply associated with natural resources are subject to change over time. Difficult resource choices must be made among often competing interests. Although the forest planning process is dynamic and continuous, the NFMA also recognizes likely changes over time with a requirement that the Forest Plans be revised at least every 15 years. In the five year period including FY 1998 to FY 2002, 81 out of a total of 123 forest plans must be revised to comply with the Act. This large effort requires a significant funding commitment from the Land Management Planning, Inventory, and Monitoring (LMPIM) budget line item. 1998 Explanatory Notes USDA, Forest Service Agency-wide, the Plans take an average of 4 years to complete, rely on planning-related inventory information and assessments to build the documents, and require increasingly complex tasks and skills. Steps in the process facilitate public participation, including the Notice of Intent (NOI), Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). A Record of Decision (ROD), signed by the respective Regional Forester, is the final step in the revision. Planning-related inventory and assessments also are done with LMPIM funds. Monitoring, the key to effective implementation of the Forest Plans, provides feedback for the planning process. In accordance with 36 CFR 219, Forest Plans establish: (1) Forest-wide multiple use goals and objectives; Forest-wide management requirements; (2) Management area direction, including multiple use prescriptions and associated standards and guidelines; (3) Lands suited/not suited for resource use and production, including Allowable Sale Quantity; (4) Monitoring and evaluation requirements; (5) Recommendations for wilderness, and wild & scenic rivers. Day-to-day resource output or production is ultimately linked to all components of the LMPIM budget line item. Inventory, assessments, and monitoring all contribute to the Forest Plans or Forest Plan Amendments. NEPA documents to guide the management of the national forests, in turn, are tiered to the Forest Plans. Approximately 100 Draft or Final Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), 5,200 Environmental Assessments (EAs), and 9,800 Categorical Exclusions (CEs) are produced annually. (2) Monitoring and Evaluation Individual National Forests prepare an annual "Forest Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Report" which documents the results of diverse monitoring efforts called for in the Forest Plan, provides invaluable information on the effectiveness of forest management activities, and makes suggestions for cost-effective improvements. This is prepared in accordance with respective Forest Plan requirements; Regional direction; FS Handbook and Manual and planning regulation guidance; and, associated national policy direction. The audience is the respective National Forest Leadership Team, with benefits to the Region, Washington Office, and the public. Forest Service Regions prepare an annual "State of the Region Evaluation Report", which is the primary vehicle for Regions to document how their particular management approach is moving forest and grassland ecosystems toward desired conditions. It provides national leadership with feedback to evaluate regional programs and make appropriate adjustments. These Regional Evaluations are based on the yearly monitoring reports of the individual National Forests within each Region, and any other pertinent information. The audience is the Washington Office, with benefits to the Regional Leadership Team, and the public. This report focuses on the results of evaluating monitoring data. (3) Integrated Resource Inventory and Assessments Integrated inventories are designed to meet multiple needs for information. They include data collection to analyze the status or conditions of resources, as well as physical characteristics. LMPIM-related integrated resource inventories contribute to issues or decisions being addressed in the forest planning process, ultimately resulting in Forest Plan revisions or amendments which are technically and legally defensible. They meet multiple needs, including multi-location, multi-resource, and/or temporal needs for information at various scales. Several types of integrated inventories are utilized for forest planning, broadly associated with: Physical Dimensions (Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecological Units, both linked to National Hierarchical Frameworks); Biological Dimensions (Forest Resources, Rangelands, Wildlife Habitat, Threatened and Endangered Species Habitat and others); and Human Dimensions (Heritage and others). |