Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has announced that it will hold a Tribal Forum on a proposed policy to provide guidance on the monitoring of national forest lands.
The proposed policy would create a new chapter in the Forest Service Manual to be referenced as “Chapter 2040 – National Forest System Monitoring”. Specific guidance would be provided on the development and implementation of monitoring programs that support land management and adaptive management decisions of national forest lands. Guiding principles of the chapter seek to be strategic and efficient, utilize technology and data management systems, and incorporate Native traditional ecological knowledge. USFS has stated that they will initiate formal Tribal consultation following this Tribal Forum.
Details regarding the upcoming Tribal Forum are as follows—
Questions regarding this Tribal Forum should be directed to the Forest Service Office of Tribal Relations at SM.FS.otrtribalcon@usda.gov.
For more information, please contact Brian Howard, USET SPF Senior Policy Analyst, at bhoward@usetinc.org.
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