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Final National Forest and Proposed Field Office Land and Resource Management Plan
Conor Nelson
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Purpose of the Plan 1.2 More Chapter 2: Resource Direction 2.1 Timber and other Forest Products 2.2 Fire and Fuels Management 2.3 Air Quality 2.4 Recreation 2.5 Minerals and Energy Chapter 3: Area Direction 3.1 Regions 3.2 Districts
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Purpose of the Plan
The purpose of this Land and Resource Management plan is to provide strategic guidance for future management within the forest. This LRMP guides the restoration or maintenance of the health of these lands to promote a sustainable flow of uses, benefits, products, services, and visitor opportunities. It provides a framework for informed decision making, while guiding resource management programs, practices, uses, and projects. It does not include specific project and activity decisions.
The LRMP is strategic in Nature and does not attempt to prescribe detailed management direction to cover every possible situation, While all component necessary for resource protection and restoration are included, the LRMP also provides flexibility needed to respond to uncertain or unknown future events and conditions such as fire, flood, climate change, changing economics, and social changes that may be important to consider at the time future decisions are made.
1.2 More
The Forest Service manages fire, recreation, resources, range, and many other things. They are about a sustained pull of resources as opposed to the BLM which mains focuses on only resources, and the Park Services which only focus on preservation. The United States Forest Service also basically only focuses on the land instead of the animals that live there, that would be the Division of Wildlife.
The Forest Service is required to have a certain output of timber each year for the Forest Service is about the sustained pull of resources. To achieve this amount the Forest Service has timber sales where they cut several trees out of an area for timber. Many steps go into the prep for this including an Environmental Impact Statement, archeological surveys, and several public meetings. On top of this the thinning can only be done in suitable areas where thinning is needed for restoration and pre-fire measures.
Another great way to on pre-fire improvement is to do controlled burns. This is ultimately burning up the needle and tree litter and removing gamble oak from all thorough the forest. They are handled only by professionals who take many precautions and dig lines all around the area to prevent a wildfire from blazing out of control. They simulate the small pre-fire suppression fires that naturally occurred.
2.4 Recreation
The Forest Service operates most campsites and trails you can think of yet recreation is not the top priority. They maintain campsites, trails, signs, and the BLM even maintains mountain passes such as the Alpine Loop.
3.2 Districts
The District we are currently in is the Columbine Ranger District. To the East is the Pagosa Ranger District, and the West is the Dolores Ranger District. All three make up the San Juan National Forest which is just about 2.5 million acres of public lands. All of this is in the Rocky Mountain Region.
Literature Cited: Volume II Final San Juan National Forest and Proposed Tres Rios Field Office Land Management Plan