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Notes

36 C.F.R. §§ 219.8–219.11

4 sections in range

§219.8. Sustainability.

36 C.F.R. § 219.8

A plan developed or revised under this part must provide for social, economic, and ecological sustainability within Forest Service authority and consistent with the inherent capability of the plan area, as follows:
(a)
Ecological sustainability.
(1)
Ecosystem Integrity. The plan must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to maintain or restore the ecological integrity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and watersheds in the plan area, including plan components to maintain or restore structure, function, composition, and connectivity, taking into account:
(i)
Interdependence of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the plan area.
(ii)
Contributions of the plan area to ecological conditions within the broader landscape influenced by the plan area.
(iii)
Conditions in the broader landscape that may influence the sustainability of resources and ecosystems within the plan area.
(iv)
System drivers, including dominant ecological processes, disturbance regimes, and stressors, such as natural succession, wildland fire, invasive species, and climate change; and the ability of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the plan area to adapt to change.
(v)
Wildland fire and opportunities to restore fire adapted ecosystems.
(vi)
Opportunities for landscape scale restoration.
(2)
Air, soil, and water. The plan must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to maintain or restore:
(i)
Air quality.
(ii)
Soils and soil productivity, including guidance to reduce soil erosion and sedimentation.
(iii)
Water quality.
(iv)
Water resources in the plan area, including lakes, streams, and wetlands; ground water; public water supplies; sole source aquifers; source water protection areas; and other sources of drinking water (including guidance to prevent or mitigate detrimental changes in quantity, quality, and availability).
(3)
Riparian areas.
(i)
The plan must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to maintain or restore the ecological integrity of riparian areas in the plan area, including plan components to maintain or restore structure, function, composition, and connectivity, taking into account:
(A)
Water temperature and chemical composition;
(B)
Blockages (uncharacteristic and characteristic) of water courses;
(C)
Deposits of sediment;
(D)
Aquatic and terrestrial habitats;
(E)
Ecological connectivity;
(F)
Restoration needs; and
(G)
Floodplain values and risk of flood loss.
(ii)
Plans must establish width(s) for riparian management zones around all lakes, perennial and intermittent streams, and open water wetlands, within which the plan components required by paragraph (a)(3)(i) of this section will apply, giving special attention to land and vegetation for approximately 100 feet from the edges of all perennial streams and lakes.
(A)
Riparian management zone width(s) may vary based on ecological or geomorphic factors or type of water body; and will apply unless replaced by a site-specific delineation of the riparian area.
(B)
Plan components must ensure that no management practices causing detrimental changes in water temperature or chemical composition, blockages of water courses, or deposits of sediment that seriously and adversely affect water conditions or fish habitat shall be permitted within the riparian management zones or the site-specific delineated riparian areas.
(4)
Best management practices for water quality. The Chief shall establish requirements for national best management practices for water quality in the Forest Service Directive System. Plan components must ensure implementation of these practices.
(b)
Social and economic sustainability. The plan must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to guide the plan area's contribution to social and economic sustainability, taking into account:
(1)
Social, cultural, and economic conditions relevant to the area influenced by the plan;
(2)
Sustainable recreation; including recreation settings, opportunities, and access; and scenic character;
(3)
Multiple uses that contribute to local, regional, and national economies in a sustainable manner;
(4)
Ecosystem services;
(5)
Cultural and historic resources and uses; and
(6)
Opportunities to connect people with nature.
Notes, amendments, and revision history

Amendments

[77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, as amended at 81 FR 90737, Dec. 15, 2016]

Authority

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 16 U.S.C. 1604, 1613.

Source

Source: 77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, unless otherwise noted.

Amendments

[77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, as amended at 81 FR 90737, Dec. 15, 2016]

§219.9. Diversity of plant and animal communities.

36 C.F.R. § 219.9

This section adopts a complementary ecosystem and species-specific approach to maintaining the diversity of plant and animal communities and the persistence of native species in the plan area. Compliance with the ecosystem requirements of paragraph (a) of this section is intended to provide the ecological conditions to both maintain the diversity of plant and animal communities and support the persistence of most native species in the plan area. Compliance with the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section is intended to provide for additional ecological conditions not otherwise provided by compliance with paragraph (a) of this section for individual species as set forth in paragraph (b) of this section. A plan developed or revised under this part must provide for the diversity of plant and animal communities, within Forest Service authority and consistent with the inherent capability of the plan area, as follows:
(a)
Ecosystem plan components.
(1)
Ecosystem integrity. As required by § 219.8(a), the plan must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to maintain or restore the ecological integrity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and watersheds in the plan area, including plan components to maintain or restore their structure, function, composition, and connectivity.
(2)
Ecosystem diversity. The plan must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to maintain or restore the diversity of ecosystems and habitat types throughout the plan area. In doing so, the plan must include plan components to maintain or restore:
(i)
Key characteristics associated with terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem types;
(ii)
Rare aquatic and terrestrial plant and animal communities; and
(iii)
The diversity of native tree species similar to that existing in the plan area.
(b)
Additional, species-specific plan components.
(1)
The responsible official shall determine whether or not the plan components required by paragraph (a) of this section provide the ecological conditions necessary to: contribute to the recovery of federally listed threatened and endangered species, conserve proposed and candidate species, and maintain a viable population of each species of conservation concern within the plan area. If the responsible official determines that the plan components required in paragraph (a) are insufficient to provide such ecological conditions, then additional, species-specific plan components, including standards or guidelines, must be included in the plan to provide such ecological conditions in the plan area.
(2)
If the responsible official determines that it is beyond the authority of the Forest Service or not within the inherent capability of the plan area to maintain or restore the ecological conditions to maintain a viable population of a species of conservation concern in the plan area, then the responsible official shall:
(i)
Document the basis for that determination (§ 219.14(a)); and
(ii)
Include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to maintain or restore ecological conditions within the plan area to contribute to maintaining a viable population of the species within its range. In providing such plan components, the responsible official shall coordinate to the extent practicable with other Federal, State, Tribal, and private land managers having management authority over lands relevant to that population.
(c)
Species of conservation concern. For purposes of this subpart, a species of conservation concern is a species, other than federally recognized threatened, endangered, proposed, or candidate species, that is known to occur in the plan area and for which the regional forester has determined that the best available scientific information indicates substantial concern about the species' capability to persist over the long-term in the plan area.
Notes, amendments, and revision history

Amendments

[77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, as amended at 81 FR 90737, Dec. 15, 2016]

Authority

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 16 U.S.C. 1604, 1613.

Source

Source: 77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, unless otherwise noted.

Amendments

[77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, as amended at 81 FR 90737, Dec. 15, 2016]

§219.10. Multiple use.

36 C.F.R. § 219.10

While meeting the requirements of §§ 219.8 and 219.9, a plan developed or revised under this part must provide for ecosystem services and multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, wildlife, and fish, within Forest Service authority and the inherent capability of the plan area as follows:
(a)
Integrated resource management for multiple use. The plan must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, for integrated resource management to provide for ecosystem services and multiple uses in the plan area. When developing plan components for integrated resource management, to the extent relevant to the plan area and the public participation process and the requirements of §§ 219.7, 219.8, 219.9, and 219.11, the responsible official shall consider:
(1)
Aesthetic values, air quality, cultural and heritage resources, ecosystem services, fish and wildlife species, forage, geologic features, grazing and rangelands, habitat and habitat connectivity, recreation settings and opportunities, riparian areas, scenery, soil, surface and subsurface water quality, timber, trails, vegetation, viewsheds, wilderness, and other relevant resources and uses.
(2)
Renewable and nonrenewable energy and mineral resources.
(3)
Appropriate placement and sustainable management of infrastructure, such as recreational facilities and transportation and utility corridors.
(4)
Opportunities to coordinate with neighboring landowners to link open spaces and take into account joint management objectives where feasible and appropriate.
(5)
Habitat conditions, subject to the requirements of § 219.9, for wildlife, fish, and plants commonly enjoyed and used by the public; for hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, observing, subsistence, and other activities (in collaboration with federally recognized Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, other Federal agencies, and State and local governments).
(6)
Land status and ownership, use, and access patterns relevant to the plan area.
(7)
Reasonably foreseeable risks to ecological, social, and economic sustainability.
(8)
System drivers, including dominant ecological processes, disturbance regimes, and stressors, such as natural succession, wildland fire, invasive species, and climate change; and the ability of the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the plan area to adapt to change (§ 219.8);
(9)
Public water supplies and associated water quality.
(10)
Opportunities to connect people with nature.
(b)
Requirements for plan components for a new plan or plan revision.
(1)
The plan must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to provide for:
(i)
Sustainable recreation; including recreation settings, opportunities, and access; and scenic character. Recreation opportunities may include non-motorized, motorized, developed, and dispersed recreation on land, water, and in the air.
(ii)
Protection of cultural and historic resources.
(iii)
Management of areas of tribal importance.
(iv)
Protection of congressionally designated wilderness areas as well as management of areas recommended for wilderness designation to protect and maintain the ecological and social characteristics that provide the basis for their suitability for wilderness designation.
(v)
Protection of designated wild and scenic rivers as well as management of rivers found eligible or determined suitable for the National Wild and Scenic River system to protect the values that provide the basis for their suitability for inclusion in the system.
(vi)
Appropriate management of other designated areas or recommended designated areas in the plan area, including research natural areas.
(2)
Other plan components for integrated resource management to provide for multiple use as necessary.
Notes, amendments, and revision history

Amendments

[77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, as amended at 81 FR 90737, Dec. 15, 2016]

Authority

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 16 U.S.C. 1604, 1613.

Source

Source: 77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, unless otherwise noted.

Amendments

[77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, as amended at 81 FR 90737, Dec. 15, 2016]

§219.11. Timber requirements based on the NFMA.

36 C.F.R. § 219.11

While meeting the requirements of §§ 219.8 through 219.10, a plan developed or revised under this part must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, and other plan content regarding timber management within Forest Service authority and the inherent capability of the plan area, as follows:
(a)
Lands not suited for timber production.
(1)
The responsible official shall identify lands within the plan area as not suited for timber production if any one of the following factors applies:
(i)
Statute, Executive order, or regulation prohibits timber production on the land;
(ii)
The Secretary of Agriculture or the Chief has withdrawn the land from timber production;
(iii)
Timber production would not be compatible with the achievement of desired conditions and objectives established by the plan for those lands;
(iv)
The technology is not currently available for conducting timber harvest without causing irreversible damage to soil, slope, or other watershed conditions;
(v)
There is no reasonable assurance that such lands can be adequately restocked within 5 years after final regeneration harvest; or
(vi)
The land is not forest land.
(2)
The responsible official shall review lands identified in the plan as not suited for timber production at least once every 10 years, or as otherwise prescribed by law, to determine whether conditions have changed so that they have become suitable for timber production. As a result of this 10-year review, the plan may be amended to identify any such lands as suitable for timber production, if warranted by changed conditions.
(b)
Timber harvest for purposes of timber production. A plan that identifies lands as suitable for timber production must include plan components, including standards or guidelines, to guide timber harvest for timber production or for other multiple use purposes on such lands.
(c)
Timber harvest for purposes other than timber production. Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, the plan may include plan components to allow for timber harvest for purposes other than timber production throughout the plan area, or portions of the plan area, as a tool to assist in achieving or maintaining one or more applicable desired conditions or objectives of the plan in order to protect other multiple-use values, and for salvage, sanitation, or public health or safety. Examples of using timber harvest to protect other multiple use values may include improving wildlife or fish habitat, thinning to reduce fire risk, or restoring meadow or savanna ecosystems where trees have invaded.
(d)
Limitations on timber harvest. Whether timber harvest would be for the purposes of timber production or other purposes, plan components, including standards or guidelines, must ensure the following:
(1)
No timber harvest for the purposes of timber production may occur on lands not suited for timber production.
(2)
Timber harvest would occur only where soil, slope, or other watershed conditions would not be irreversibly damaged;
(3)
Timber harvest would be carried out in a manner consistent with the protection of soil, watershed, fish, wildlife, recreation, and aesthetic resources.
(4)
Where plan components will allow clearcutting, seed tree cutting, shelterwood cutting, or other cuts designed to regenerate an even-aged stand of timber, the plan must include standards limiting the maximum size for openings that may be cut in one harvest operation, according to geographic areas, forest types, or other suitable classifications. Except as provided in paragraphs (d)(4)(i) through (iii) of this section, this limit may not exceed 60 acres for the Douglas-fir forest type of California, Oregon, and Washington; 80 acres for the southern yellow pine types of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas; 100 acres for the hemlock-Sitka spruce forest type of coastal Alaska; and 40 acres for all other forest types.
(i)
Plan standards may allow for openings larger than those specified in paragraph (d)(4) of this section to be cut in one harvest operation where the responsible official determines that larger harvest openings are necessary to help achieve desired ecological conditions in the plan area. If so, standards for exceptions shall include the particular conditions under which the larger size is permitted and must set a maximum size permitted under those conditions.
(ii)
Plan components may allow for size limits exceeding those established in paragraphs (d)(4) introductory text and (d)(4)(i) of this section on an individual timber sale basis after 60 days public notice and review by the regional forester.
(iii)
The plan maximum size for openings to be cut in one harvest operation shall not apply to the size of openings harvested as a result of natural catastrophic conditions such as fire, insect and disease attack, or windstorm (16 U.S.C. 1604(g)(3)(F)(iv)).
(5)
Timber will be harvested from NFS lands only where such harvest would comply with the resource protections set out in sections 6(g)(3)(E) and (F) of the NFMA (16 U.S.C. 1604(g)(3)(E) and (F)). Some of these requirements are listed in paragraphs (d)(2) to (d)(4) of this section.
(6)
The quantity of timber that may be sold from the national forest is limited to an amount equal to or less than that which can be removed from such forest annually in perpetuity on a sustained yield basis. This limit may be measured on a decadal basis.
(i)
The plan may provide for departures from this limit as provided by the NFMA when departure would be consistent with the plan's desired conditions and objectives. Exceptions for departure from this limit on the quantity sold may be made only after a public review and comment period of at least 90 days.
(ii)
This limit may be based upon increases in harvest levels based on intensified management practices, such as reforestation, thinning, and tree improvement if such practices justify increasing the harvests in accordance with the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960. The plan must require that such harvest levels be decreased at the end of each planning period if such practices cannot be successfully implemented or funds are not received to permit such practices to continue substantially as planned.
(iii)
The Chief must include in the Forest Service Directive System procedures for estimating the quantity of timber that can be removed annually in perpetuity on a sustained-yield basis, and exceptions, consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1611.
(7)
The regeneration harvest of even-aged stands of trees is limited to stands that generally have reached the culmination of mean annual increment of growth. This requirement would apply only to regeneration harvest of even-aged stands on lands identified as suitable for timber production and where timber production is the primary purpose for the harvest. Plan components may allow for exceptions, set out in 16 U.S.C. 1604(m), only if such harvest is consistent with the other plan components of the land management plan.
Notes, amendments, and revision history

Amendments

[77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, as amended at 77 FR 44145, July 27, 2012; 78 FR 23492, Apr. 19, 2013; 81 FR 90737, Dec. 15, 2016; 86 FR 68149, Dec. 1, 2021]

Authority

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 16 U.S.C. 1604, 1613.

Source

Source: 77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, unless otherwise noted.

Amendments

[77 FR 21260, Apr. 9, 2012, as amended at 77 FR 44145, July 27, 2012; 78 FR 23492, Apr. 19, 2013; 81 FR 90737, Dec. 15, 2016; 86 FR 68149, Dec. 1, 2021]