USFS Forest Plan Revision

For those of you who believe that many of the best things in life come in small packages, you have not seen the latest collaborative effort between the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget and the United States Forest Service. You might just come away from this review thinking that bigger is indeed better.

In short, forest plans are revised every 10 to 15 years for the Forest Service to incorporate changes in the natural environment, new scientific understandings, social trends, and new laws and policies. This requirement was established in the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, which created the need to prepare and periodically revise land management plans, and in the National Forest Management Act of 1976, which required that each national forest and grassland complete and periodically update a management plan.

In an effort to provide a fresh approach to forest resource planning, the Planning Section, in cooperation with the Demographic and Economic Analysis Section of GOPB, has been exploring new methods of encouraging collaboration between Forest managers and the communities that make use of the Forest resources through the development of the Social and Economic Assessment portions of the current Forest Plan Revisions for the Dixie, Fishlake, and Manti - La Sal National Forests. (Executive Summary-Table of Contents)

The final Socio-Economic Assessment was designed to be reviewed more like an encyclopedia than a novel. The printed version is well-over 1000 color pages. Therefore, it would be cost prohibitive to provide printed copies to everyone.

The document is being made available through this website, and can also be obtained via CD by requesting a copy by emailing:

askaplanner@utah.gov