7.1: National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule

Create and implement a modern planning rule to address current and future needs of the National Forest System.

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in December 2009 that the USDA Forest Service will begin an open, collaborative process to create and implement a modern planning rule to address current and future needs of the National Forest System, including restoring forests, protecting watersheds, addressing climate change, sustaining local economies, improving collaboration, and working across landscapes. The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976 requires every national forest or grassland managed by the Forest Service to develop and maintain a Land Management Plan (also known as a forest plan). The process for the development and revision of the plans, along with the required content of plans, is outlined in the planning rule. The national planning rule provides the overarching framework individual forests and grasslands use to create and modify National Forest land and resource management plans. The Forest Service has initiated a collaborative process to develop a new and enduring planning rule. Developing a new planning rule provides the opportunity to help protect, reconnect, and restore and sustain national forests and grasslands for the benefit of human communities and natural resources. The collaborative nature of this planning rule development signals a renewed commitment by the Forest Service to collaboration, transparency, and participation. Opportunities for public involvement will be extensive throughout the process. Through collaboration we will provide the public more points of access to the process than ever before. Our planning rule Web site provides the latest information and opportunities to participate in the conversation via our planning rule blog. The development of a new planning rule is technically and legally challenging, and is a politically charged task with long lasting national implications for the management of National Forest System lands. The enhanced transparency, participation and collaboration envisioned in this Open Government Flagship Initiative will not guarantee political or scientific consensus on what the Rule should contain. However, we believe this effort will increase agency credibility and public understanding of the planning rule and lead to a planning rule that endures over time. Public Engagement Elements of the collaboration strategy to create a new planning rule include: Science Forum In March 2010, panels of scientists presented the latest science on topics relevant to the development of the planning rule. The synthesized results of the Science Forum will inform the National and Regional Roundtables (see below) and be available to the public on our planning rule Web site. Regional Roundtables Regional Roundtables in April 2010 will address selected principles from the notice of intent (NOI) as well as topics of regional importance. The objectives of the Regional Roundtables are to: • Capture the opinions of participants regarding approaches for addressing the NOI principles, including areas of agreement and disagreement and possible alternatives. • Identify additional themes or principles that the planning rule should address that are not reflected in the NOI. • Updated schedule and locations as well as opportunities to participate via webcasts are made available on the planning rule Web site. National Roundtables National Roundtables will use the information from the science forum to shape a series of dialogue sessions framed around the principles disclosed in the NOI. The first National Roundtable was in April 2010 .The second continues this discussion in late April. In May of 2010, the third National Roundtable provides a synthesis of previous national and regional roundtable discussions. E-Collaboration The Forest Service is seeking to make it easier for the public to be engaged through the use of new media. The planning rule blog encourages virtual discussions of the planning rule. Questions are posted regularly to the blog to guide and encourage online dialogue. Additionally, the public is encouraged to follow the Forest Service on Twitter, at www.twitter.com/forestservice. All national meetings are being broadcast via live webstream. Instructions on how to participate have been sent to every Forest Service employee. These broadcasts are 508 compliant and accessible to all Americans. Formal Public Comment Formal public comment periods will occur following publication of the Notice of Intent (now closed) and the proposed Planning Rule and Draft Environmental Impact Statement. During open comment periods, we will provide links for submitting electronic comments and information about other options. Public inspection of comments received is available at http://contentanalysisgroup.com/fsr/. Tribal Outreach and Consultation There will be formal government-to-government consultation with the Tribes augmented by tribal engagement in the science forum and the national and regional roundtables. Additionally, there will be at least one National Tribal Roundtable. Interagency Working Group The Forest Service is organizing and convening a working group of regulatory and cooperating federal agencies to provide input to the rule writing and environmental analysis teams. Internal Collaboration Working Group The Forest Service is convening a working group of internal Forest Service staff from various levels and diverse program areas in the agency to provide input and review ideas for the rule writing team. External Involvement The Forest Service is committed to developing a new planning rule that endures over time, and will use a collaborative and participatory method to accomplish this goal. By partnering with the US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, an independent federal agency, the Forest Service will build the best possible collaboration strategy for the planning rule. Congress created the US Institute as part of an independent, non-partisan federal agency (the Udall Foundation) to provide neutral conflict resolution services concerning environmental and natural resource issues involving the federal government(20 U.S.C. 5604(8)). The U.S. Institute is authorized to assist federal agencies to resolve conflict and to minimize the use of litigation. (20 U.S.C. 5604(9)). The Institute brings legitimacy to the process by providing: * Independence: The US Institute operates as a neutral, third party, independent agency with the mission of assisting federal government agencies with collaboration and dispute resolution; * Highly skilled support for collaborative activities; * Independent synthesizing and reporting, and; * Recognized expertise in the science and practice of conflict resolution. The Institute brings credibility to the process by providing: * An extensive portfolio of collaboration on land management issues with the Forest Service; * Experience: Currently engaged in more than 25 projects with the Forest Service; and other federal agencies, such as Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce. • Working relationships with Council on Environmental Quality, Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries. As an evolution of the planning rule initiative, USDA has identified a potential opportunity to broaden the usefulness of rule making with other agencies in the department. The USDA Policy Gateway would level the playing field and allow everyone to have a voice in the policy making process. USDA will carefully review and leverage from the USFS planning rule experience to develop its vision of a policy gateway. This policy gateway would provide a one-stop shopping service for anyone interested in a particular policy topic with information on the origin of the policy and its evolution, as well as training and education materials. Participation and Collaboration Measurements would principally focus on improved participation and collaboration. These would be benchmarked against traditional forms of public involvement. The latter include Federal Register notices, postings in newspapers of record, letters or emails to participants in the planning rule making and environmental analysis. The extent to which our collaborative process creates many more opportunities for engagement and input to the rule making process would be assessed. Frequency and timeliness of responses to public input and collaborative public meetings would be evaluated. Effectiveness in public participation would be gauged by the multiple means of accessing the planning rule development and interactive communication through the web site and social media, such as the planning rule blog and use of Twitter for announcing updates. Although the rule writing process will end with the publication of the final rule, our commitment to participation and collaboration will continue. The Forest Service has a long history of engaging the public in forest-level decision making. Through the collaboration effort, we are building trust and relationships that we will continue to rely on for future decision making. Schedule of Implementation This proposed Open Government Initiative coincides with the established two-year time frame for development of the new Planning Rule. The Final Rule and Record of Decision are scheduled for November 2011. Elements of this Open Government Initiative will undoubtedly need to be refined and modified to match up and support future stages of planning rule development. Strategic Goals The planning rule initiative works to achieve the goals established in the USDA Forest Service Strategic Plan: FY 2007–2012. The goals met by the initiative are: Goal 1. Restore, Sustain, and Enhance the Nation’s Forests and Grasslands (USDA Objectives 6.1, 6.3, 6.4) The planning rule provides the overarching framework individual forests and grasslands in the National Forest System use in developing, amending and revising land management plans. The ability of the Forest Service to restore and enhance our national forests and grasslands is dependent on a stable and implementable planning rule. By embarking on creating a new rule using the principles of open government, we are making an effort to collaboratively create a planning rule that will stand the test of time and allow for the restoration and enhancement of the National Forest System. Outcome: National Forests and grasslands have the capacity to maintain their health, productivity, diversity, and resistance to unnaturally severe disturbance. Goal 6. Engage Urban America With Forest Service Programs (USDA Objective 6.3) With this collaboration effort, urban Americans have more opportunity to engage in the process than in any previous planning rule development. Through new media tools, webcasting and Regional Roundtables, Americans have access to participation, regardless of proximity to national forests. Outcome: Broader access by Americans to the long-term environmental, social, economic, and other types of benefits provided by the Forest Service. Goal 7. Provide Science-Based Applications and Tools for Sustainable Natural Resources Management (USDA Objective 6.3) Our collaborative process will be informed by the best available science. Information gathered from a two-day panel of scientists will be synthesized and shared on the planning rule Web site and will be shared to begin each national and regional roundtable. Outcome: Management decisions are informed by the best available science-based knowledge and tools. Performance Measures Performance measures would consider the improvement in public interaction and communication compared to traditional forms of public involvement mentioned elsewhere. Public responses and feedback through the multiple means of communication about our collaborative process would be monitored to assess public sentiment or favorable/unfavorable comments on the collaboration process in the flagship project. Ultimately, the degree to which broader support and acceptance of the final rule as a result of the transparency, participation, and/or collaboration realized through the initiative would be assessed. The collaboration strategy for developing a new planning rule has the potential to become a model for not just future Forest Service rule writing, but for other Departmental Agencies. In the spirit of transparency, we have our collaboration strategy posted on our planning rule Web site. Not only does this demonstrate our commitment to collaboration and participation to the American people, it serves as a resource for other Agencies.

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