A Guide to Forest Plan - Goals, Desired Conditions, Objectives, Standards, and Guidelines

Goals, Desired Conditions, Objectives, Standards and Guidelines are the road map or building  blocks of a forest plan. The following definitions of these building blocks (in italics font with bold font emphases added) are found in the 2012 forest planning rule. The Conservation  Alternative and Draft Manti-La Sal NF (MLNF) Plan can be directly compared for these  elements.

Photographers: Marc Coles-Ritchie (#1) & Ellen Morris Bishop (#2-3)

GOALS (GL)

A plan may include goals as plan components. Goals are broad statements of intent, other than desired conditions, usually related to process or interaction with the public. Goals are expressed in broad, general terms, but do not include completion dates.

Note: While a forest plan must include Desired Conditions, Objectives, Standards and Guidelines, the inclusion of Goals is optional. Both the Conservation Alternative and Draft MLNF Plan specify Goals.

DESIRED CONDITIONS (DC)

A desired condition is a description of specific social, economic, and/or ecological characteristics of the plan area, or a portion of the plan area, toward which management of the land and resources should be directed. Desired conditions must be described in terms that are specific enough to allow progress toward their achievement to be determined, but do not include completion dates.

Note: Desired Conditions are the vision for MLNF in its future: its habitat conditions, water, uses. If the Standards and Guidelines are followed, Manti-La Sal NF should arrive or move toward, not away from, the Final Desired Conditions.

OBJECTIVES (OB)

An objective is a concise, measurable, and time-specific statement of a desired rate of progress toward a desired condition or conditions. Objectives should be based on reasonably foreseeable budgets.

Note: Objectives indicate what actions the MLNF plans to take on what approximate timelines to retain or move the Forest toward the Desired Conditions. The big caveat is that non-fire budgets for the national forests have been decimated. Staff, including District Rangers, are shunted off to fires during the fire season, and there has been a steady decline in funding for national forests, leading to skeleton staff. The Conservation Alternative was built for reasonable budgets, and if not all could be adopted with unreasonable budgets, priorities in the Final EIS could be made.

STANDARDS (ST)

A standard is a mandatory constraint on project and activity decision making, established to help achieve or maintain the desired conditions, to avoid or mitigate undesirable effects, or to meet applicable legal requirements.

Note: Standards are limits on Forest Service, commercial, recreational and other activities that are likely needed if the Manti-La Sal NF expects to move toward Desired Conditions. Under the 2012 planning rule, they are enforceable, binding, and mandatory. While Standards are the important commitments in which the public can have the greatest trust, the Forest Service tries to limit the number and nature of Standards because the agency wants flexibility.

GUIDELINES (GD)

A guideline is a constraint on project and activity decision making that allows for departure from its terms, so long as the purpose of the guideline is met. Guidelines are established to help achieve or maintain a desire condition or conditions, to avoid or mitigate undesirable effects, or to meet applicable legal requirements.

Note: Like Standards, Guidelines are limits on projects and decision making, but unlike Standards, they are not mandatory, which means they don’t have to be strictly followed. It is important to note whether a commitment in the MLNF proposed plan (or the Conservation Alternative) is a Standard or a Guideline, because the public can have much less assurance that Guidelines will be followed.