§ 219.30 - Plan documentation.

A plan is a repository of documents that integrates and displays the desired conditions, objectives, standards, and other plan decisions that apply to a unit of the National Forest System. The plan also contains maps, monitoring and evaluation results, the annual monitoring and evaluation report, and other information relevant to how the plan area is to be managed. Planning documents should be clear, understandable, and readily available for public review. Plan documents should be updated through amendments, revision, and routine maintenance (§219.31). Plan documents include, at a minimum, the following:

(a) A summary of the plan. The summary is a concise description of the plan that includes a summary of the plan decisions and a description of the plan area and appropriate planning units. The summary should include a brief description of the ecological, social, and economic environments within the plan area and the overall strategy for maintenance or restoration of sustainability, including desired conditions and objectives for their achievement. The summary also includes appropriate maps, a description of the transportation system, utility corridors, land ownership patterns and proposed land ownership adjustments, charts, figures, photographs, and other information to enhance understanding.

(b) Display of public uses. The plan documents must identify the suitability of the plan area for various uses (§219.26) such as recreation uses, livestock grazing, timber harvest, and mineral developments. The plan documents must identify land where timber may not be harvested and where timber production is an objective (§219.28). The plan documents also must describe the limitations on the removal of timber (§219.29) and the standards for timber harvest and regeneration methods (§219.7(c)).

(c) Plan decisions. The plan documents must display or describe the plan decisions (§219.7).

(d) Display of actions and outcomes. The plan documents must also contain:

(1) An annually updated list or other display of proposed, authorized, and completed actions to achieve desired conditions and objectives within the plan area;

(2) A 2-year schedule, updated annually, of anticipated outcomes which may include anticipated uses, values, products, or services based on an estimate of Forest Service budget and capacity to perform the identified program of work. The estimate of Forest Service budget and capacity should be based on recent funding levels;

(3) A 2-year summary, updated annually, of the actual outcomes which may include specific uses, values, products, or services provided as a result of completed site-specific actions;

(4) A projected range of outcomes which may include anticipated uses, values, products, and services for the next 15 years, assuming current or likely budgets while considering other spending levels as appropriate. These projections are estimates and as such often contain a high degree of uncertainty; they are intended to describe expected progress in achieving desired conditions and objectives within the plan area. The projections are to be updated during revision of each plan;

(5) A description of the monitoring strategy to occur in the plan area and the annual monitoring and evaluation report; and

(6) A summary of the projected program of work, updated annually, including costs for inventories, assessments, proposed and authorized actions, and monitoring. The projected program of work must be based on reasonably anticipated funding levels. Reasonably anticipated funding levels should be based on recent funding levels. The plan documents must also include a description of the total current-year budget, funded actions, projections for future budgets over the next 2 years; and a display of the budget trends over at least the past 5 years.

(e) Other components. A plan must contain or reference a list of materials, Forest Service policies, and decisions used in forming plan decisions. The information should include, but is not limited to, lists of previous decision and environmental documents, assessments, conservation agreements and strategies, biological opinions, inventories, administrative studies, monitoring results, and research relevant to adoption of plan decisions.