Strategic Resource Planning

Developing Management Unit or Watershed Level Strategies Activity Area Expectations

Management Unit or Watershed level planning will provide the basis to justify treatment decisions under other FIA components (e.g., Information Gathering and Management or Stand Establishment and Treatment). The intent is to build upon planning that is already in place.

This level of planning should also describe the criteria used to determine high priority watersheds for which Watershed Restoration Planning will identify priorities for activities, and list the watersheds which have or will have planning conducted and the schedule. Access Management Planning and Ecosystem Restoration Planning and their respective schedules should also be identified. In the interim, this information could be contained in the Land Base Investment Rationale.

The expectations for this Activity Area are that:

• recipients will develop Management Unit or watershed specific forest management strategies and plans that identify objectives for values as identified in the Forest and Range Practices Act (e.g., timber; fish, wildlife and habitat, water, recreation, visual quality) that can be met through FIA activities;
• strategies/plans will support the Government’s New Era objectives of:
• increasing AAC over time through scientific forest management, proper planning, and incentives to promote enhanced silviculture;
• developing the Living Rivers Strategy through participating in and utilizing the Watershed Based Fish Sustainability Planning process;
• adopting a scientifically-based, principled approach to environmental management that ensures sustainability, accountability and responsibility; and
• establishment of the working forest land base.

Areas of specific concern for the development of strategies/plans include:

• completion of silviculture strategies to include habitat objectives;
• government and industry partnerships on the recovery of rare and endangered species through recovery planning and implementing the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy (e.g., establishment of wildlife habitat areas and wildlife habitat features);
• initiation/continuation of Watershed Fish-based Sustainability Planning (WFSPs) for high priority watersheds;
• government and industry partnerships to complete identification, mapping and establishment of ungulate winter ranges;
• integrated restoration planning pertaining to watersheds and terrestrial ecosystems, in conjunction with access management planning;
• completion and improvement of forest health strategies that specify forest health conditions, issues and strategies unique to each TSA;
• linking recreation strategies at the Management Unit level to existing strategies and regional priorities for recreation; and
• creation of Integrated Visual Design and/or Visual Rehabilitation plans for visual resource management.