Understanding the National Forest Service Travel Management Planning Process

[The Lyin King]

Public Involvement – The Comment Period

NOTE: FAILURE TO COMMENT ON THE DEIS DURING THE INITIAL PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD RESULTS IN FORFITURE OF THE RIGHT TO FURTHER COMMENT IN THE REMAINING PROCESS OR BRING LITIGATION.

The “Rule”

• The rule requires each national forest or ranger district to designate those roads, trails, and areas open to motor vehicles.
• Designation will include class of vehicle and, if appropriate, time of year for motor vehicle use. A given route, for example, could be designated for use by motorcycles, ATVs, or street-legal vehicles.
• Once designation is complete, the rule will prohibit motor vehicle use off the designated system or inconsistent with the designations.
• Designation decisions will be made locally, with public input and in coordination with state, local, and tribal governments.
• Designations will be shown on a motor vehicle use map. Use inconsistent with the designations will be prohibited.

More here . . . http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/ohv/

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that established a U.S. national policy promoting the enhancement of the environment and also established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

NEPA's most significant effect was to set up procedural requirements for all federal governmentagencies to prepare Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs). EAs and EISs contain statements of the environmental effects of proposed federal agency actions.[1] NEPA’s procedural requirements apply to all federal agencies in the executive branch. NEPA does not apply to the President, to Congress, or to the federal courts.

More here . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Environmental_Policy_Act

The NOI, EIS, DEIS and FEIS

Before an EIS is prepared, the agency publishes a "notice of intent" (NOI) in the Federal Register, and usually notifies potentially concerned parties in other ways as well (by letter, newspaper article, etc.). This is the first opportunity to review not the EIS itself but the fact that the agency is going to prepare one. It's an opportunity for very early input into the EIS process.

The agency then carries out "scoping" -- that is, figuring out the scope of the analytic work that will create the EIS. Scoping is a public process in which review of the agency's initial direction can take place.

Once the EIS is drafted, it must be sent out for review to Federal agencies with "jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved and any appropriate Federal, State or local agency authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards," as well as to the project applicant, if any, and to anyone else who has asked for a copy. The Draft EIS (DEIS) is also made available for public review. Comments provided must be considered by the agency, and the agency's response must be documented in the
Final EIS (FEIS).

More here . . . http://www.npi.org/NEPA/impact.html

What's done with an EIS -- DEIS, FEIS, and ROD

Once the EIS analysis has resulted in a draft document (DEIS), it's subjected to public and agency review, and comments are addressed -- this may require further analysis. Then (assuming the project hasn't been abandoned, or so changed that a supplemental DEIS is needed), a Final EIS (FEIS) is prepared and published. The final EIS is considered in making the agency's decision about whether and how to proceed with the action that was the subject of the EIS, and this decision is recorded in a Record of Decision (ROD). According to 40 CFR 1505.2, the ROD must:

• State what the decision was.
• Identify all alternatives considered.
• Specify the alternative or alternatives considered to be "environmentally preferable" (Note that the agency doesn't have to select the environmentally preferable alternative, but it does have to discuss what it is.
• Identify and discuss the factors balanced in making the decision (whether for or against the environmentally preferable alternative).
• State whether "all practicable means to avoid or minimize environmental harm ... have been adopted, and if not, why they were not."

Having notified the world of its decision, the agency implements it. In doing so, it must carry out any mitigation (i.e., "means to avoid or minimize environmental harm") it has said in the ROD or EIS that it will carry out (40CFR 1505.3).
More here . . . http://www.npi.org/NEPA/impact.html

Those Pesky Travel Management Acronyms

http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/htnf/projects/bridgeport/feis/8_btm_feis_glossary.pdf