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What is the "Forest Plan"?
The Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) guides all natural resource management activities on a National Forest for a 10-15 year period. The Forest Plan establishes multiple-use goals and objectives for the forest, and sets out forest-wide standards and guidelines for management activities to assure coordination of multiple-uses (outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, wildlife and fish, and wilderness) and sustained yield of products and services.
The Forest Plan defines management areas and management prescriptions that act as the "zoning ordinance" under which future decisions are made. Site-specific projects and activities are proposed, analyzed and carried out within the framework of the Forest Plan.
Forest Plans are never "completed," or "final"; the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA) requires Plans to be maintained, amended and revised.
Forest Land and Resource Management Plan
Here is the current Forest Plan for Mark Twain National Forest.
Changes to 2005 dated Document
- List of Administration Changes And Amendments which is included in the above section.
- Record of Decision (ROD) (1.1mb, pdf format) The Record of Decision documents the Regional Forester's reason for choosing Alternative 3.
Review of New Information for the 2005 Plan
- Knife Cave Indiana Bat Hibernaculum
Final Environmental Impact Statement
This Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) documents the effects of applying alternative ways of managing the Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF). The FEIS reviews the need to change the 1986 Forest Plan as presented in the Notice of Intent published in the Federal Register, (Volume 67, Number 73, Pages 18580-18583) on April 16, 2002. The FEIS presents alternatives to address the need for change, and evaluates the effects of implementing each of the alternatives. The FEIS also includes the Forest Service's Responses to public comments on the Draft EIS & Draft Plan. The companion document to the FEIS is the Proposed Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Proposed Forest Plan).
- Complete FEIS (10.2 mb, pdf format)
- Complete FEIS Appendices (79.9mb, pdf format)
- Biological Assessment (10 mb, pdf format)
- Biological Assessment Appendices (1.2 mb pdf format)
- Biological Opinion (1.4mb, pdf format)
Monitoring
Effective Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) monitoring evaluation fosters improved management and more informed planning decisions. It helps identify the need to adjust management direction, such as desired conditions, goals, objectives, standards, and guidelines as conditions change. Monitoring evaluation helps the Agency and public determine how a Forest Plan is being implemented, whether plan implementation is achieving desired outcomes, and whether assumptions made in the planning process are valid. In general, required monitoring is being accomplished. The Mark Twain National Forest is on target to meet or exceed most of the goals and objectives, and results indicate that management is generally moving the landscape towards desired conditions.
In 2023, Community Health Index (CHI) was utilized as a way to gather data and evaluate effectiveness of restoration activities within the collaborative forest restoration project area of the Forest. Read the MOPWR Monitoring Report to learn more.
Learn more about the Mark Twain’s monitoring in the Fiscal Years 2015 Through 2020 Monitoring Evaluation Report. Current monitoring data is being evaluated for Fiscal Years 2021 through 2022.
Assessing Carbon on Mark Twain National Forest
Climate and environmental factors, including elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide, have also influenced carbon accumulation on the Mark Twain National Forest. Recent warmer temperatures and precipitation variability may have stressed forests, causing climate to have a negative impact on carbon accumulation in the 2000s. Conversely, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide may have enhanced growth rates in some species and helped to counteract ecosystem carbon losses from disturbances, aging, and climate. Read more about the carbon cycle on the Forest by reading the Mark Twain Carbon Assessment.