Chapter 1: What is a forest plan, why should I care and how do I get started?
The Mountain Bike Advocate's Guide to Planning and the United States Forest Service
The Bare Minimum
- Forest plans cover management of all forest resources, including trails and recreation.
- Public comment is a required component of the forest plan update process.
- Sign up for your National Forest's mailing list.
The Basics
What is a forest plan?
Forest plans are much like comprehensive plans for towns and cities. They are a broad, long-term, guiding document that defines a desired future condition for the forest and the policies for achieving that condition. Most important for mountain bikers, forest plans outline recreation strategies and determine policies for cyclists and other user groups.
Why you should care
Forest plans are the guiding document for management of each national forest. You care because they dictate the strategy for managing recreation, trails and mountain bikes. Plans can ban mountain bikes from particular areas. Your input helps form favorable policies for mountain biking, ensuring that Forest Service lands remain a valuable recreation resource.
How Do I Get Started?
Signing up for the planning newsletter or any other public notices is a great first step. Forest websites often let you do this online. Next, check out our "5 Step" program below and all the information that follows.
IMBA's 5 Step Program for Effective Advocates
- Sign up for public notice lists.
- Get involved early in the process.
- Talk to important people.
- Contact your local IMBA affiliate club or representative.
- Bookmark this online toolkit.
Make sure you're receiving notice of all planning and other activities at local parks and forests.
The sooner you're involved, the better. The Planning Team will know you are truly concerned with how trails are managed and your comments will guide from the beginning.
This means utilizing people outside the planning team. Local elected officials are often very influential figures in the planning process. County Commissioners often have a strong interest in forest plans and their effect on county lands and businesses. Let them know your concerns.
Organize mountain bikers in the area. The more people representing your view, the better. Attend meetings, write letters, make phone calls - anything to let the planning team know you're out there.
Handy step-by-step guidelines for becoming a certified planning genius. You'll master the art of producing effective comments, become one with planning language and understand the planning process from the inside out.
Additional Information
Why do Forest Plans exist and where do they come from?
The short-yet-long answer can be found in the legacy of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA). NFMA marks a turning point in the Forest Service's history, where a legislative mandate shifted the focus of forest management away from timber to a more sustainable multiple-use paradigm. Specifically, NFMA required forest planning to incorporate economic, wilderness, wildlife and recreation factors. Six years later, the "1982 Planning Rule" explained exactly how Forest Plans would utilize and organize these factors. It was also decided Forest Plans would be updated at least every 15 years. Like anything in Washington, D.C., implementation of the 1982 Planning Rule took a few years. The first wave of Forest Plans came out in the late 1980's and we are now in the middle of the second round.
New Planning Guidelines!
On December 22, 2004, the Bush Administration approved a new set of rules governing forest plans, their scope, content and process. The "2005 Planning Rule" is meant to streamline the planning process and make forest plans more general in nature by providing them a categorical exclusion from Environmental Impact Statements (EIS). Forests already engaged in plan revisions can continue using the old rules or adopt the new ones. Forests whose planning processes begin in 2005 or later are required to abide by the new rules.
