North Country Council Committees

Forest Committtee

White Mountain National Forest Planning Process

The North Country Council Forest Committee is making an effort to keep the communities of the North Country informed about the work that will be taking place in the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) as a result of the Forest Plan that was recently completed.

There are nine steps to the Project Planning Process. There are ways for communities to be involved in the process at every step. The public generally focuses on the following three.

Step 3: SCOPING - Communities can respond to scoping letters that the WMNF sends out to notify the public of site-specific projects that will be taking place within the Forest. By responding to the scoping letters communities' comments will be considered in the environmental analysis, and they will be notified directly of the Environmental Analysis once it is complete in order to participate in the 30-day Comment Period.

Step 5: ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS - Once the Forest Service has created an analysis of the site-specific project they will ask for public input. When a full Environemtal Impact Statement is required the comment period is 45 days.  When an Environmental Assessment is completed the comment period is 30 days. When the project only requires a Decision Memo they are not required to seek public input.

If you did not repond to the Scoping letter, you can still request to receive the environmental analysis and provide comment. However, if a community does not respond to the environemtal analysis within the comment period the community will no longer be able to participate in the decision process from that point on, and it will prohibit a community from appealing the decision.

Step 7: APPEAL - An appeal period will be open for 45 days following legal notice of the decision in the newspaper. Only those who submitted substantive comments during the official comment period will be eligible to appeal the decision, which is why it is important to follow the process.

SOPA - In order to follow projects to be prepared to participate in the process the US Forest Services has created the Schedule of Proposed Action (SOPA) process. SOPA provides a list of proposals that will begin or are undergoing environmental analysis so that the public can become aware of, and indicate their interest in, specific proposals.

The Schedule of Proposed Actions includes proposals whose decisions are expected to be documented in a Decision Memo, Decision Notice, or Record of Decision, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and agency direction. The Schedule of Proposed Actions is published in January, April, July, and October. It contains the best available information at that time. Proposals that start and finish before the next schedule is produced will be listed in the next schedule as Completed.
Scheduled projects for the White Mountain National Forest updated for 1/1/07 to 3/31/07 are available. Additionally, a list of projects(you will need to scroll down) within the White Moutain National Forest provides all scoping letters, legal announcements, decision memos, and copies of the environemental analysis for public review.

If you choose to participate in the Project Planning Process, your comments will be better received if you follow these guidelines:

  • Provide your reason for making comment
  • State whether you support the project or not
  • Only respond to the specifics of the project being proposed (do not elaborate on other issues you have with the FS, there is a place for that somewhere else)
  • Include supporting rationale for your support or disapproval of the project
  • Provide alternatives to the project
  • Provide information that could be useful to the Forest Service in creating alternatives to the proposed action

Local Contacts at the WMNF for the Project Planning Process are available to assist you as well.

North Country Council will continue to elaborate on these and other issues important to the forests in the region. Stay tuned.