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Draft forest management plan posted next week; board aims for July approval but final action contingent on federal take permits
Summary
The State Forest Division told the advisory committee a final draft of the Forest Management Plan (FMP) will be posted next week and staff aim for the Board to approve the plan in July, but that approval is contingent on federal incidental-take permits; agency staff also reported receiving roughly 1,100 unique public letters and about 1,000 form emails on the Annual Operations Plan (AOP).
Nick Palazzado, deputy chief for State Forests, told the State Forest Advisory Committee that the division has a final draft of the Forest Management Plan and will post it to the Board of Forestry meeting page next week. "We have a final draft, and it is in the board's hands currently," he said, adding staff are making edits in response to internal review and will bring the plan to the board as an update in early June and seek final action in July.
Palazzado stressed the board’s approval would be contingent on the issuance of incidental-take permits by federal agencies. "The FMP approval would be contingent on… incidental take permit issuance," he said, and noted that if permits are delayed the implementation date for the new plan could slide into a later fiscal year.
Separately, the operations manager reported the public comment response workload on the Annual Operations Plan (AOP). "As of Wednesday, we received a little over 1,100," the operations manager said, and added that staff have also received roughly 1,000 campaign/form submissions addressing a range of issues. Staff summarized the main themes to the committee: calls to harvest more in some places and less in others; concerns about mature-forest harvest and herbicide use; requests for improved recreation and trail planning; and frequent appeals for clearer communication and accountability.
Staff outlined a near-term schedule: make final edits, post draft materials to the web, accept public comment, provide a comment-response document and bring a revised draft to the board for consideration. If the board approves a final FMP in July and the incidental-take permits are issued, staff expect the plan to be effective for fiscal 2028 implementation. HCP drafting and interagency permit processes were described as on a parallel—but slightly trailing—track, with staff expecting permit decisions in the fall.
The committee pressed staff on how comment themes will be handled. Agency staff said they will group comments by theme, prepare a public comment-response document, and incorporate feasible adjustments into the operations and implementation plans where they fall within policy and statutory constraints. Staff emphasized that some concerns are more appropriately addressed at the implementation-plan (IP) or project level and that the division will be improving outreach materials to help the public target comments to the appropriate planning stage.
What happens next: the final FMP draft will be posted; staff will finish the public comment response documents; the Board of Forestry will be asked to consider the plan in early June with the aim of final action in July; and the HCP and related permits will continue through federal review in the coming months. The agency told the committee it will return with implementation-plan modeling and monitoring details in later briefings.
Sources: presentation and Q&A at the State Forest Advisory Committee meeting (Nick Palazzado; operations manager).
