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Public Involvement
National forests are owned by all Americans, and we all have a role to play in how they are managed. The 2012 Planning Rule requires decision makers to emphasize and incorporate opportunities for public involvement through every step of the planning process. Although this approach creates a giant responsibility for both the Forest Service and its public, it also presents the public with an important opportunity to help create forest plans that serve the public interest. A community engagement plan will be developed with stakeholder input and shared on this page when it is complete.
Past Public Participation Activities
Plans Review and Evaluation
On August 20, the Forest released its Current Plan Evaluation Summary, a short document that summarizes the extensive review of the existing forest plans. Forest Plan Revision Team Leader Josh Milligan hosted a virtual meeting and conference call September 1 to discuss this document and field stakeholder questions.
The public was invited to provide feedback on the team's review through Oct. 4, 2020. Forest Supervisor Chuck Mark is now considering public input and the review of existing plan direction to determine whether each plan should be revised, amended, or left unchanged.
Monthly webinars
The Forest Plan Revision team held monthly webinars June through September during 2019.
Wilderness presentation
We held two Wilderness Evaluation presentations in Salmon and Challis on Dec. 12 and 13, 2018, respectively. In addition to presenting a prepared slideshow at these events, Team Leader Josh Milligan and Wilderness Process Coordinator Jeff Hunteman fielded questions submitted by those in attendance. The questions and answers were compiled and posted on our Wilderness Inventory & Evaluation page.
November 2018 -- Plan Initiation Workshops
- Workshops offered in Salmon, Challis, Mackay, and Hailey.
- Virtual public meeting was offered Dec. 4, 2018.
- Workshop included discussions of:
- Management issues and how we can measure progress
- Management areas approach
- Unique places, uses and social dynamics
- The wilderness evaluation process and Salmon-Challis focal areas
- Wild and Scenic Rivers update
- How You Shaped the Assessment is a direct result of the feedback gathered at and after these meetings.
May 2018 -- Species of Conservation Concern Posting and Webinar
- The Salmon-Challis National Forest preliminarily identified 55 plants, 20 terrestrial animals, and 8 aquatic animals in a draft list of potential species of conservation concern.
November 2017 -- Draft Assessment & Preliminary Needs for Change Release
- Meetings were held in Challis, Salmon, Mackay, Arco, and Ketchum.
- Documents discussed at the meeting can found on the Assessment page.
April 2017 -- Concurrent Processes Follow-Up
- Meetings held in Salmon, the Pahsimeroi Valley, Mackay and Ketchum.
- Meetings covered the processes that run concurrent to forest plan revision: Wilderness, Wild and Scenic River, and Species of Conservation Concern.
February 2017 -- Assessment Feedback Meetings
- Meetings were held in Salmon, Mackay, and Challis.
- Similar public meeting held in Arco April 10
- Feedback about what questions the assessment should was documented in our April 2017 Newsletter.
Join forces with other stakeholders
Nonprofit partner Salmon Valley Stewardship has formed the Central Idaho Public Lands Collaborative, a group that will work on public lands planning issues both for the Salmon-Challis National Forest and the Salmon and Challis Field Offices of the Bureau of Land Management. While these are not Forest Service nor BLM sponsored meetings, both agencies appreciate and support these kinds of citizen-driven efforts. For more information about this effort, contact Mindy Crowell at Salmon Valley Stewardship, 208-756-1686 or visit the group's website, http://cipubliclandsplanning.ning.com/
The Lemhi-Custer Grassroots Advisory formed to afford everyone in the general public an opportunity to be heard and to share their thoughts about the Salmon-Challis National Forest Plan Revision and how they would like to see their public lands managed. For more information about the group, contact Dolores Ivie at divie@custertel.net.