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Proposed Land Management Plan Report Background Forest Planning Staff Officer: Revision Website: www.fs.fed.us/r2/shoshone/projects/planning/revision/revision_index.shtml The proposed Land Management Plan for the Shoshone National Forest describes guidance for the management of the 2.4 million-acre SNF for approximately the next 15 years. Background: Revision of the SNF Land Management Plan is slowly moving forward, after initial public and cooperating agency meetings were held in May, 2005, and Notice of Initiation was entered in the Federal Register in September, 2005. The revision process was stopped when the 2005 planning rule was enjoined in April, 2007, and there were no revision-related public meetings for 13 months. Public meetings were held again in May, 2008. During these three years, over 1,100 people attended 63 public meetings and 14 cooperating agency meetings. Last summer, the SNF planning team began preparation of the draft proposed plan for Washington Office review, with the review process taking longer than expected. The process was also slowed by uncertainty created from conflicting court rulings on the management of inventoried roadless areas. WO review comments were received in December, 2008, and necessary changes have since been incorporated into the current revision documents. Proposed Plan Update: Meetings to present the most recent version of the revision documents, discuss the changes, and provide an opportunity for public review, were held in Cody, Thermopolis, Dubois, and Lander, April 22-30, 2009. Copies of the Draft Proposed Land Management Plan, April, 2009, the Comprehensive Evaluation Report, April, 2009, and sets of the new Recreation Settings maps were handed out at the meetings. The current versions of these documents, and those of the supporting Plan Set of Documents, are not yet on the website, however the 2008 versions are there. Hard copies may be obtained at the SNF offices in Cody, Lander, and Dubois. The Plan does not include management direction from the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Based upon current court rulings, the Rule does not apply in Wyoming. This is the third time since revision began in 2005 that the roadless rules have changed. Given the continued litigation of the Rule and future uncertainty, plan components that are most likely to change if the status of the Rule changes are clearly noted in italics. The Plan is organized into three parts containing six plan components, and seven appendices. Part one of the Plan begins with a vision summary, and then describes the desired conditions plan component in chapter 1. Part two of the Plan contains the next three chapters, and identifies the strategies to be used to achieve the desired conditions identified in chapter 1. Chapter 2 includes the objectives plan component. Chapter 3 identifies the suitable uses that may occur on the SNF. Chapter 4 describes the SNF’s special areas, including wilderness, wild and scenic rivers, research natural areas, and the plan components specific to these areas. Part three contains chapter 5, with the standards and guidelines plan components. Seven appendices include maps (an integral part of plan components, especially those for recreation settings and suitability uses), possible actions, monitoring program, oil and gas stipulations and lease notice guide, grizzly bear habitat conservation direction, Northern Rockies lynx management direction, and species of concern. The planning team is specifically asking for public feedback on the monitoring program, needing to focus their limited monitoring resources on areas of highest priority and public interest. Retained direction from the 1986 Forest Plan, as amended, is now integrated into the draft Plan, and presented more clearly. The CE Report provides information on the SNF’s social, economic, and ecological conditions and trends that contribute to sustainability. The Report identifies factors that affect conditions and trends, includes information on what is causing conditions to change, and describes the influence plan implementation has on moving toward desired conditions. Results derived from monitoring and evaluation reports are included in assessing the performance of forest plan direction and implementation. The Report is to be updated at least every five years. The planning team is specifically asking for public feedback on the CE Report. Planning staff will be further developing the draft Plan during June and July, 2009. As there is just one plan option going forward, changes will probably be made. Public comments will be considered during this time, and will be of most value if received by the end of May. It is anticipated the draft Plan will be ready for WO review in August, followed by WO approval to print and release for the formal 90-day public comment period, likely not before October, 2009. Congressionally designated wilderness on the SNF includes 1,371,783 acres in five areas administered as wilderness unimpaired for future use and enjoyment: Designated Wilderness Acreage Year Designated
Source: SNF Comprehensive Evaluation Report, 2009 High Lakes Wilderness Study Area: The 14,700 acre wilderness study area was congressionally designated in the Wyoming Wilderness Act of 1984. It is located south of the Montana border and consists of spectacular alpine and subalpine scenery and numerous lakes. The WSA was evaluated for preliminary recommendation for wilderness designation in the SNF Evaluation of Areas for Possible Wilderness Recommendation (2008). A preliminary recommendation for wilderness designation is not being made in this Plan. Snowmobiling shall continue to be allowed in the same manner and degree as was occurring prior to the enactment of the Act. Inventoried Roadless Areas: There are 686,551 inventoried roadless areas on the Shoshone outside designated wilderness. Of these areas, 90 percent are within management areas that are open to some level of timber harvest and road construction, though only 20 percent are within management areas that are actively managed. Currently, approximately 40,176 acres of inventoried roadless areas have some level of timber harvest and roads. Two-thirds of the management areas are open to summer motorized use and 90 percent are open to winter motorized use (SNF CE Report, 2009). In 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was established to limit the construction of roads and harvesting of timber in inventoried roadless areas. The Rule has been challenged in court, and currently does not apply to inventoried roadless areas in Wyoming. Wilderness Evaluation Areas: The Wyoming Wilderness Act of 1984 directed that the wilderness option for inventoried roadless lands would be reviewed when the land management plans are revised. As part of the revision process, a wilderness evaluation inventory of 34 areas was completed in 2006. This inventory identified 751,336 acres that were evaluated for wilderness recommendation, including 104,962 acres that are not included in the inventoried roadless areas. 40,176 acres of inventoried roadless were not evaluated, due to some level of timber harvest and roads. In October, 2006, the planning team presented the wilderness evaluation inventory at public meetings, referring to the areas as “inventoried roadless areas.” In January, 2007, the new Forest Service Handbook 1909.12 for wilderness evaluation indicated that the areas be referred to as “wilderness evaluation areas,” and not as “inventoried roadless areas.” During the WO review in 2008, the SNF planning team was told to not refer to the areas as “inventoried roadless areas.” Maps of “inventoried roadless areas” associated with the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule were recognized with the publication of the Rule in the Federal Register. Management direction for roads and timber harvest is constrained by the 2001 Roadless Rule if it is in effect. Maps of “wilderness evaluation areas” are identified as part of the wilderness evaluation process in plan revision. Management direction is established by the Forest Plan, and there is no direction that states how the areas should be managed. Shoshone National Forest Evaluation of Areas for Potential Wilderness, August, 2008, summarizes the evaluation process. Three tests—capability, availability, and need—were used to determine suitability as described in Forest Service Handbook 1909.12. Capability is the degree to which the area contains the basic characteristics that make it suitable for wilderness designation without regard to its availability for or need as wilderness. The availability determination is conditioned on the value of and need for the wilderness resource compared to the value of and need for the area for other resources. Need is the determination that the area should be designated as wilderness through an analysis of the degree the area contributes to the local and national distribution of wilderness. Of the 34 areas evaluated for wilderness, only the DuNoir Special Management Unit is preliminarily recommended for wilderness designation by the proposed plan. All remaining areas of wilderness evaluation would be managed according to proposed Plan direction as illustrated on the suitable uses and settings maps. DuNoir Special Management Unit: The area is located along the continental divide south of the Washakie Wilderness. It was evaluated for preliminary recommendation for wilderness designation in the SNF Evaluation of Areas for Possible Wilderness Recommendation (USDA FS, 2008). This Plan makes a preliminary recommendation for further review of the area for wilderness designation (28,878 acres). Subsequent to the preliminary recommendation of area in the plan approval document and prior to its submission to Congress for action, an EIS will be prepared to support this preliminary administrative decision. As part of the environmental analysis, an alternative will be considered (in detail or otherwise) that adjusts the recommended wilderness boundary to a more manageable boundary. Specific adjustments may include 1) shifting the boundary in the southeast corner south to a geographic feature, 2) excluding Trail Lake, 3) excluding the DuNoir cabin, and 4) shifting the boundary east to exclude Bonneville Pass. This does not infer any direction on what other alternatives may or may not be considered in the analysis. Wyoming Wilderness Association and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance Recommendations: (SNF plan revision comments letter (11-20-2006), on the WWA website: www.wildwyo.org) WWA and BCA “very highly” recommend wilderness designation for the DuNoir Special Management Unit, and also “very highly” recommend wilderness designation for the East DuNoir, South DuNoir, and West DuNoir evaluated areas. The WWA and BCA also “very highly” recommend wilderness designation for the Franc’s Peak and Deep Lake evaluated areas. The WWA and BCA “highly” recommend wilderness designation for the following areas:
Wild and Scenic Rivers: The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was enacted in 1968 to preserve free- flowing conditions, water quality, and outstandingly remarkable values of selected rivers. Wild rivers are managed to be free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and water unpolluted. The SNF has one designated wild river. Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone: In 1990, the Clarks Fork Wild and Scenic River Designation Act designated a 20.5 mile segment of the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River to be included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The legislation designated the river corridor (0.25 mile on each side of the river’s ordinary high water mark) as a wild river. A corridor river management plan is being prepared for the designated wild segment of the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River, and should be completed in 2009. The completed river management plan will be incorporated into the proposed revised Plan. Contact person is Marty Sharp (307-527-6921), msharp@fs.fed.us. Eligible Rivers: The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act includes a provision for conducting a systematic review of rivers during the forest planning process. A comprehensive evaluation of the SNF’s rivers was completed, and 13 river segments were identified as being eligible for further study. Rivers identified as being eligible are managed to maintain eligibility until suitability is determined. The SNF’s Wild and Scenic River Eligibility Evaluation, 2008, describes the evaluation process, eligible river classifications, and outstandingly remarkable values. Table 11-Eligible rivers
Source: SNF Proposed Land Management Plan, 2009
Research Natural Areas: Research Natural Areas are part of a national network of ecological areas designated for research, education, and to maintain biological diversity. Objectives are to Line Creek Plateau Research Natural Area: The SNF has one designated RNA, the Line Creek Plateau RNA established in 2000, to protect an example of Rocky Mountain alpine tundra vegetation types and associated features. The area comprises 3,053 acres on the SNF, and 19,369 acres on the adjacent Custer National Forest. Proposed Research Natural Areas: The proposed Plan makes a preliminary recommendation to the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region Research Natural Areas Committee to review eight research natural areas for designation. The eight proposed areas comprise about 69,900 acres (80 percent in designated wilderness) on the SNF. These proposed areas represent the region’s rare plant species and representative plant communities. The SNF’s position in the middle of the continent acts as a connector for many plant and animal species from north to south and east to west, and its elevation differences and varieties of soil types also account for the diversity of species. More information about the proposed areas is available in the Proposed Research Natural Areas Report (USDA FS, 2008). Table 12: Proposed research natural areas
Source: SNF Proposed Land Management Plan, 2009
Diane Orme |
