the Forest Service to 

 develop a process to devise 

 and revise its land 

 management plans. The 

 agency was directed to set 

 forth guidelines for 

 managing the timber and 

 associated forest resources 

 to ensure that timber would 

 be harvested from National 

 Forest System lands only 

 where specified by the act. 



Clearcutting, seed-tree 

 cutting, shelterwood cutting, 

 and other cuts designed to 

 regenerate an even-aged 

 stand of timber could be 

 done only under the 

 conditions specified in the 

 act. With exceptions for 

 thinning and other stand 

 improvement measures, 

 salvage and sanitation 

 cuts, and cutting of a 

 particular species in 

 management units for the 

 benefit of other resources, 

 the act required the 

 establishment of standards 

 to ensure that timber stands 

 would not be harvested 

 prior to culmination of mean 

 annual increment. 



Forest Plans as a 

 Management Tool 



Since establishment of the 

 national forests, the timber 

 management plan had 

 been the primary vehicle by 

 which resource 

 management activities were 



coordinated to ensure that 

 all resources would benefit. 

 Now each national forest 

 was required to have a 

 comprehensive National 

 Forest Resource 

 Management Plan. This 

 meant that all existing timber 

 management plans were to 

 be revised and incorporated 

 into the new forest plans 

 developed and approved 

 pursuant to the new 

 guidelines prescribed by 

 the Renewable Resources 

 Planning Act, as amended 

 by the National Forest 

 Management Act. 



By the end of fiscal year 

 1 985, nearly 1 years later, 

 13 final Land and Resource 

 Management Plans had 

 been approved and 

 implemented-one for each 

 of the region's national 

 forests except the 

 Nantahala/Pisgah National 

 Forests and the National 

 Forests in Texas. They 

 were targeted for completion 

 by August 1 986 and January 

 1987, respectively. In all, 49 

 appeals had been filed; 17 

 were closed and 32 were 

 pending. 



In the interim, timber 

 management activities 

 continued under 

 modifications and 

 extensions of the old timber 

 management plans, 

 reflecting changes in the 

 area of commercial forest 



47 



