By: John Heil, Public Affairs, U.S. Forest Service
VALLEJO, Calif., June 5, 2009 - The U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region will host a workshop at the McClellan Wildland Fire Training Center in Sacramento on July 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to kick off the process of revising land management plans for the national forests of California. All are encouraged to attend.
Regional Forester Randy Moore has decided to revise 14 forest plans over the next three years starting in the Sierra Nevada.
The purpose for this workshop will be to enlist the help of the participants in designing a public participation process for the Sierra Nevada Comprehensive Evaluation Report (CER) that works for interested publics. Another function of the workshop will be to discuss the initial outline and some of the content for the Sierra-wide CER. The Forest Service would like for the participants at the workshop to give advice about our approach and the proposed content for the CER.
The Forest Service is guided in plan revision work by a new Planning Rule that was developed in 2008. Using the new rule, a CER will be completed for the Sierra Nevada region. This regional CER will help focus the development of local CERs and forest plans for each national forest.
"We are excited to provide this opportunity for input and collaboration," said Moore. "It is our intention to work with the public to identify the issues that are most important in California and individual forests and to balance those desires and needs with sound science and resource protection."
The Forest Service will provide video conference links to the workshop at the Sierra National Forest headquarters in Clovis and at the Plumas National Forest headquarters in Quincy. Space is limited at the virtual sites, so if you would like to join at one of these sites e-mail Martha Maciel at mmaciel@fs.fed.us. Or if you plan to attend the Sacramento location, please e-mail Martha.
Plans for the four Southern California forests were already revised in 2005.
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