The National Forest System
Land Management Planning Rule of 2005

The National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule of 2005 is the new framework for creating or revising a management plan for any forest, grassland, or other administrative unit in the National Forest System (NFS). The planning rule “establishes requirements for sustainability of social, economic, and ecological systems and developing, amending, revising, and monitoring land management plans; and clarifies that land management plans under this final rule, absent extraordinary circumstances, are strategic in nature and are one stage in an adaptive cycle of planning for management of National Forest System lands.”

Among the intended effects of the planning rule are
•  To streamline and improve the planning process by making plans more adaptable to changes in social, economic, and environmental conditions;
•  To strengthen the role of science in planning;
•  To strengthen collaborative relationships with the public and other governmental agencies; and
•  To reaffirm the principle of sustainable management consistent with the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act and other authorities.

Each management plan developed under the 2005 rule will have five major components:
•  Desired conditions: “the social, economic, and ecological attributes toward which management of the land and resources of the plan area is to be directed”
•  Objectives: “concise projections of intended outcomes of projects and activities to contribute to maintenance or achievement of desired conditions”
•  Guidelines: statements that “provide information and guidance for the design of projects and activities to help achieve objectives and desired conditions”
•  Suitability of areas: “identification of the general suitability of an areas in an NFS unit for a variety of uses” (for example, livestock grazing, timber harvest, motorized recreation)
•  Special areas: “areas within the NFS designated for their unique or special characteristics” (for example, Zoological and Botanical Areas, Research Natural Areas)

A monitoring program will be a central element of each management plan—monitoring is the key to linking project-level actions to the objectives in the plan.

All National Forests in the Forest Service's Region 3 (Arizona and New Mexico) are, or soon will be, in the process of revising their management plans under the 2005 planning rule.

Click here for a copy of the 2005 planning rule as published in the Federal Register.

Click here to visit the plan revision website for the Coronado National Forest, where you can get more detailed information on the 2005 planning rule, as well as on the progress of the revision of the Coronado's Land and Resource Management Plan.