Lincoln Nation Forest management planning begins March 25

Staff of the Lincoln National Forest are beginning a four-year journey to draft a new forest plan and the first community meeting for the Smokey Bear Ranger District is set for March 25. "The National Forest Management Act of 1976 requires every national forest or grassland managed by the Forest Service to develop and maintain an effective land management plan, also known as a forest plan," District Ranger Dave Warnack told Lincoln County commissioners at their meeting last week. "Plainly speaking, the forest plan is a document that provides guidance for the management of all resources and activities on the forest. The service contracted with community outreach specialists who have worked on several forest plans throughout the country, to help the district conduct the first meeting, he said. Staff wants feedback from groups and individuals who have worked with the Forest Service in a collaborative fashion on whether the experience was positive or negative, "and how can we keep it more positive and secondly, how do you wish to be involved. The's a spectrum, some just want to be informed and some want to roll up their sleeves and be part of it, (present) ideas and be a partner. "We'll be trying to gauge that and figure out who wants want. The third thing is tying to lay out the process so they will know what to expect over the next four years." Commission Chairman Preston Stone said he wants the county's Land Use and Rural Affairs Committee members involved in the plan, along with consideration of provisions in the county's existing land use plan...more

Do you see all those trees around the sign?  Huge swaths of this land should never have been reserved as a national forest.