Each National Forest is charged with creating a new management plan every 10 to 15 years. The Planning Rule provides the umbrella of issues each forest must address as it creates a specific management plan for a specific forest.
The plans in most Arizona forests (or NM forest) are already well over 15 years old and badly in need of revision. This spring the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest released it draft alternatives and asked for public input. We asked you to comment on the range of alternatives the Apache-Sitgreaves Forest developed. Many of you responded to our call for comments asking for a more conservation-minded alternative. The comment period ended April 30, 2010.
This summer, the Forest will finalize alternatives and begin analysis and development of the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) and Draft Plan. The DEIS for the Apache-Sitgreaves plan revision was scheduled for release in the fall 2010 but has been moved back at least 2 or 3 months. We may not see the DEIS until Spring. Once published in the Federal Register, the public will have 30 days to comment on this plan.
