RIN Data

Statement of Need: The President's environmental program includes natural resource planning for all units of the National Forest System. In support of that effort, the Forest Service is adopting a final rule at 36 CFR part 219, subpart A, to revise the land management planning rule, published on November 9, 2000, governing how future changes in land management planning direction will be made and how those changes will be documented. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on December 6, 2002, for a 90-day public comment period. The comment period was extended 30 days to April 7, 2003. The proposed rule continued to support the major principles of the 2000 rule, which are the underlying concepts of sustainability, monitoring and evaluation, collaboration, and use of science. The proposed rule, however, improved the clarity of the 2000 rule, characterized planning as a continuous process, offered two options to provide for diversity of plant and animal communities, and provided for plan analysis to be categorically excluded from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation. The Agency received over 195,000 comments on the proposed rule. Consideration of these comments will lead to a final rule that better enables the Forest Service to be good land stewards by providing the clean air and water and wildlife protection the public expects. This goal would be accomplished by shifting from a complex, cumbersome, and expensive up front planning process, to a streamlined process that better involves the public, and shifts resources to land management and continual monitoring and evaluation.

Summary of the Legal Basis: The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 476 et seq.), as amended by the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA) (90 Stat. 2949 et seq.), requires the Secretary to promulgate regulations under the principles of the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 that set out the process for the development and revision of land management plans (16 U.S.C. 1604(g)).

Alternatives: The Forest Service considered and compared the final planning rule to both the 1982 and the 2000 planning regulations. Land management plans prepared under the 1982 rule were difficult to prepare, took 5 to 7 years to complete, and required detailed analytical requirements that were of limited use due to the high degree of uncertainty of the projections. The 2000 planning rule requires a number of detailed analytical requirements, lacks clarity regarding many of these requirements, is not flexible enough, and lacks recognition of the limits of agency budgets and personnel needed to implement it.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: Estimates of the anticipated costs and benefits focused on key activities in land and resource management planning for which costs could be estimated under the 1982, 2000, and final planning rules. Based on costs that can be quantified, this final rule is estimated to result in a savings, compared to the expected costs under the 1982 rule and compared to the 2000 rule. In addition to the anticipated cost savings, numerous intangible benefits are expected to result from the final rule. The overall goal of the final rule is to develop a planning framework that fosters stewardship of the National Forest System lands and improves the likelihood of contributing toward the ecological, social, and economic components of sustainability. Better decisions provide sustained goods, services, and values without impairment of the health of the land. These improvements will be based on better collaboration with the public, improved monitoring and evaluation, integration of science, and a more flexible process that reduces the burden on both the public and the Agency. A planning process that addresses public concerns and leads to improved health of the public lands has value beyond the cost savings estimated in the analysis.

Risks: The final planning rule will help to reduce the risks of natural resource management on National Forest System lands by strengthening the Forest Service's ability to respond quickly and effectively to a variety of continually changing issues, such as the development of new scientific information, new listing of species, the effects of wildfire, changes in demographics or the economy, and unforeseen effects of plan implementation activities. The final planning rule allows for a more flexible approach to planning and reducing risks by providing for a continual and adaptive planning cycle involving on-the-ground project proposal, analysis, and implementation; monitoring and evaluation; and plan adjustment. The final planning rule would allow flexible implementation of projects to avoid and reduce risks; for example, projects to implement the Agency's hazardous fuels reduction program.