Forest Service updates county on Manti-La Sal plan revision, final documents expected after related decisions in 2025

The U.S. Forest Service updated the Utah County Commission on the Manti-La Sal National Forest plan revision on Sept. 4, outlining the eight-year process, major themes from public input and the next steps toward a final environmental review.

Acting forest planner Josie Muse said the revision began with an assessment in 2016 and noted the current management plan dates to 1986 and has been amended 23 times. Muse summarized rounds of public comment in which the agency said it had collected roughly 900 comments during the initial assessment, about 6,300 comments around its notice of intent in 2021 and more than 8,200 comment letters on the 2023 draft, from which staff extracted over 2,000 comments and grouped them into approximately 200 categories.

Those comments, Muse said, clustered around three focus areas: ecological resilience, support for traditional and cultural ways of life, and sustainable recreation. Local concerns the agency highlighted included roads and public access, watershed health, vegetation restoration, wildlife habitat and the economic impacts of public-land decisions.

Muse also described how the Forest Service handled a citizen-submitted “conservation alternative” by incorporating components that complied with law and policy into the range of alternatives analyzed in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS). She described ongoing outreach and consultation the agency has pursued with 10 tribal nations, 10 counties in Utah and Colorado, conservation districts, cities and other federal agencies.

Muse and district ranger Darren Olsen said the agency is preparing a final EIS and final plan, as well as a crosswalk comparing cooperating partners’ resource-management plans with the forest plan. Muse said the Forest Service is also monitoring two related planning processes — the Bears Ears National Monument Resource Management Plan and a National Old Growth Amendment — that are expected to issue decisions in January and will amend parts of the 1986 plan. The Forest Service does not plan to release final documents for public objection until those related decisions are complete, with an expected release of final documents in 2025 and a 60-day notice of opportunity to object.

Muse invited commissioners and county residents to review documents and maps on the Forest Service’s project web page and on an ArcGIS platform that lets users compare alternatives.

Commissioners offered thanks to the presenters and did not raise substantive questions in the public portion of the meeting. Muse said the staff would continue tribal consultation and partner coordination as the agency completes content analysis and comment responses.

What’s next: The Forest Service expects the Bears Ears and Old Growth decisions to be released before it issues the Manti-La Sal final EIS and plan; the final documents are expected in 2025 and will be followed by a 60-day objection period.