Forest Plan Implementation
Forest Plan Overview
Chapter 5 - Implementation
Plan implementation is the activity to accomplish the management direction of the Forest Plan, and is necessary to meet public expectations of Forest Service actions and legal requirements. It is mainly accomplished through the recurrent identification of proposed actions consistent with activities anticipated in the Plan; the analysis and evaluation of such actions; related documentation and decision-making; and project execution and administration.
The Forest Plan was not written to anticipate all potential projects, or even application of standards and guidelines to fit any and all situations encountered on the ground. One must always look at what the intent of the Plan is while accomplishing desired projects or outcomes. The Plan is intended to be reasonably flexible and adaptive. The use of adaptive management principles is anticipated and encouraged.
Tools that are available for use in implementation of the Tongass Forest Plan include Integrated Resource Management Plans (IRMPs) and a rapid or condensed version of Landscape Assessments. This latter tool primarily uses existing information and knowledge of a defined area in conjunction with how the Forest Plan fits on that landscape (LUDs, standards and guidelines, etc.) and how that landscape is used or functions.