United States Department of Agriculture

Forest

Service

Northern 

Region

January 2015

Errata for the 2013 Kootenai 

National Forest Land Management 

Plan

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TTY). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 

1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or 

(202) 720-6382 (TTY). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Contents

Errata Overview...................................................................................................3

Chapter 2—Forestwide Direction ......................................................................3

Page 12: Vegetation; Desired Conditions 3

Page 13: Vegetation; Desired Conditions 3

Page 20: Vegetation; Guidelines 3

Page 21: Vegetation; Guidelines 3

Page 21: Vegetation; Guidelines 4

Page 24: Soils: Desired Conditions 4

Page 28: Wildlife; Goals 4

Chapter 3—Management Area Direction ..........................................................5

Page 43: Introduction; Table 8. KNF Management Areas and Acreages 5

Page 43–44: Introduction 5

Page 46: MA1b-Recommended Wilderness; Description 5

Page 51: MA2—Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers; Description 6

Page 55: MA3—Botanical, Geological, Historical, Recreational, Scenic, or Zoological Areas; 

Description 8

Chapter 5—KNF Monitoring Program ...............................................................9

Page 97: Table 22: Vegetation 9

Page 100: Table 22; Federally Listed Species 9

Page 102: Table 22; Access and Recreation 9

Page 102: Table 22; Access and Recreation 9

Page 103–104; Table 22; Wilderness 9

Glossary ............................................................................................................11

Page 113: Hydrological stability 11

Page 113: Invasive species 11

Page 116: Noxious weeds 11

Appendix A—Possible Actions........................................................................13

Page 129: Vegetative Management 13

Page 130: Watershed, Soils, Riparian, Aquatic Habitat, and Aquatic Species 13

Page 130: Wildlife 13

List of Tables

Table 1. Desired Range of Snags across all Forested Acres on the KNF by Diameter, 

Biophysical Setting, and Dominance Group (Range per Acre by Diameter Class).......... 3

Table 8. KNF Management Areas and Acreages ...................................................................... 5

Table 9. Recommended Additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System............... 6

Table 10. Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers ............................................................................... 6

Table 11. Botanical, Geological, Historical, Recreational, Scenic, or Zoological Areas.......... 8

2013 Forest Plan Errata i

Errata Overview

The following errata to the Kootenai National Forest Land Management Plan represent 

corrections related to technical errors, omissions, or clarifications per instructions provided 

through the pre-decisional review.

Chapter 2—Forestwide Direction

Page 12: Vegetation; Desired Conditions

Replace FW-DC-VEG-03 with the following:

FW-DC-VEG-03. The amount of old growth increases at the forestwide scale. At the finer 

scale of the biophysical setting, old growth amounts increase for the Warm/Dry and 

Warm/Moist settings while staying close to the current level for the Subalpine setting. 

Relative to other tree species, there is a greater increase in old growth stands that contain 

substantial amounts (i.e., 30% or more of the total species composition) of one or more of the 

following tree species: ponderosa pine, western larch, western white pine, and whitebark 

pine. Old growth stands are more resistant and resilient to disturbances and stressors such as 

wildfires, droughts, insects and disease, and potential climate change effects. The size of old 

growth stands (or patches of multiple contiguous old growth stands) increase and they are 

well- distributed across the five Geographic Areas on the Forest.

Page 13: Vegetation; Desired Conditions

Replace table 1 with the following: 

Table 1. Desired Range of Snags across all Forested Acres on the KNF by Diameter, 

Biophysical Setting, and Dominance Group (Range per Acre by Diameter Class)

Dominance 

Group

Biophysical 

Setting

Greater than 10 

inches DBH

Greater than 15 

inches DBH

Greater than 

20 inches DBH

All except lodgepole 

pine

Warm/Dry 3.3 to 15.9 1.0 to 6.1 0.3 to 2.2

Warm/ Moist 6.3 to 17.1 2.4 to 7.2 0.5 to 2.6

Subalpine 11.1 to 25.1 2.9 to 6.5 0.5 to 2.1

Lodgepole pine All 3.6 to 14.0 0.5 to 4.3 0.1 to 1.1

Page 20: Vegetation; Guidelines

Replace FW-GDL-VEG-04 with: 

FW-GDL-VEG-04. Vegetation management activities should retain snags greater than 20 

inches DBH and at least the minimum number of snags and live trees (for future snags) that 

are displayed in table 4. Where snag numbers do not exist to meet the recommended ranges, 

the difference would be made up with live replacement trees. Exceptions occur for issues 

such as human safety and instances where the minimum numbers are not present prior to the 

management activities.

Page 21: Vegetation; Guidelines

Replace FW-GDL-VEG-05 with: 

2013 Forest Plan Errata 3
Kootenai National Forest

FW-GDL-VEG-05. Where vegetation management activities occur and snags (or live trees 

for future snags) are retained, the following direction should be followed:

• Group snags where possible;

• Retain snags far enough away from roads or other areas open to public access to reduce 

the potential for removal (generally more than 150 feet);

• Emphasize retention of the largest snags and live trees as well as those species that tend 

to be the most persistent, such as ponderosa pine, larch, and cedar; and

• Favor snags or live trees with existing cavities or evidence of use by woodpeckers or 

other wildlife.

Page 21: Vegetation; Guidelines

Replace FW-GDL-VEG-08 with: 

FW-GDL-VEG-08. All silvicultural practices may be used to manage forest vegetation. This 

includes silvicultural systems (e.g., even-aged, two-aged or uneven-aged), regeneration 

methods (e.g., clearcutting, seed-tree, shelterwood, and group or single-tree selection), as 

well as other practices such as improvement cutting, commercial or pre-commercial thinning, 

use of planned or unplanned ignitions, planting, pruning, invasive terrestrial plant species

control, cone collection, tree improvement, insect or disease control, site-preparation, and 

fuel reduction. Appropriate practices for a given situation depend on numerous factors, 

including the current and desired forest vegetation conditions at the stand and landscape 

scales, the biophysical setting, and the management direction and emphasis for the area. 

Silvicultural practices should generally trend the forest vegetation towards conditions that are 

more resistant and resilient to disturbances and stressors, including climate change.

Page 24: Soils: Desired Conditions

Replace FW-DC-SOIL-03 with:

FW-DC-SOIL-03. Soil impacts are minimized and previously activity areas that have 

incurred detrimental soil disturbance recover through natural processes and/or restoration 

activities. Organic matter and woody debris, including large diameter logs, tops, limbs, and 

fine woody debris, remain on site after vegetation treatments in sufficient quantities to retain 

moisture, maintain soil quality, and enhance soil development and fertility by periodic release 

of nutrients as they decompose (refer to FW-GDL-VEG-03).

Page 28: Wildlife; Goals

Replace GOAL-WL-01 with:

GOAL-WL-01. The KNF manages wildlife habitat through a variety of methods (e.g., 

vegetation alteration, prescribed burning, invasive species treatments, etc.) to promote the 

diversity of species and communities and to contribute toward the recovery of threatened and 

endangered terrestrial wildlife species.

4 2013 Forest Plan Errata
Chapter 3—Management Area Direction

Page 43: Introduction; Table 8. KNF Management Areas and Acreages

Replace as follows: 

Table 2. KNF Management Areas and Acreages

Management 

Area Management Area Name Acres Percent

1a Wilderness 93,700 4.2%

1b Recommended Wilderness 86,800 3.9%

1c Wilderness Study Area 34,100 1.5%

2 Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers 41,000 1.8%

3 Botanical, Geological, Historical, Recreational, Scenic or 

Zoological Areas 29,100 1.3%

4 Established and Recommended Research Natural Areas 9,800 0.4%

5a Backcountry – Non-motorized Year-round 246,800 11.1%

5b Backcountry – Motorized Year-round (Summer only on 

designated routes/areas) 169,800 7.7%

5c Backcountry – Motorized Winter, Non-motorized Summer 86,500 3.9%

6 General Forest 1,408,600 63.5%

7 Primary Recreation Areas 12,900 0.6%

Total NFS Lands 2,219,100

Some MAs overlap (e.g., MA1b – Recommended Wilderness may have an overlapping MA4 – Research Natural Area).

Page 43–44: Introduction

Change the MA overlap hierarchy as follows: 

1. Wilderness (MA1a)

2. Research Natural Areas (MA4)

3. Wilderness Study Area (MA1c)

4. Recommended Wilderness (MA1b)

5. Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers (MA2)

6. Botanical, Geological, Historical, Recreational, Scenic or Zoological Areas (MA3)

7. Primary Recreation Areas (MA7)

Page 46: MA1b-Recommended Wilderness; Description

Replace Table 9. Recommended Additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System as 

follows: 

2013 Forest Plan Errata 5
Kootenai National Forest

Table 3. Recommended Additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System

Recommended Wilderness Recommended Acres

Cabinet Mountains (additions) 29,900

Roderick 23,500

Scotchman Peaks 35,900

Ten Lakes2 26,000

Total Acres1 115,300

1 Total acres are more than those shown in table 8 because of overlapping management areas. As noted with table 8, 

RNAs (MA4) is higher in the hierarchy than recommended wilderness (MA1b), resulting in acres being totaled prior to 

recommended wilderness. RNA acres overlapping with recommended wilderness total 2,500 acres. WSA acres 

overlapping with recommended wilderness total 26,000 acres. 2 The Ten Lakes recommended wilderness acres are as described in the 1985 Legislative Report to Congress. They 

overlap MA1c (WSA). MA1c management area direction takes precedent.

Page 51: MA2—Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers; Description

Replace sentence preceding Table 10 with the following: 

A total of 150 miles of river within NFS lands have been identified as eligible in this Forest Plan 

(table 10).

Replace table 10 with the following: 

Table 4. Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers

River—Outstandingly 

Remarkable Value District Status

Preliminary 

Classification

NFS 

Miles

NFS 

Acres

Kootenai River—Scenery, Fisheries, Recreation, Wildlife, and History

Seg. 1 Libby Eligible Recreational 1.3 737

Seg. 2 Libby Eligible Recreational 1.9 363

Seg. 3 3 Rivers/Libby Eligible Recreational 5.0 2,299

Seg. 4 3 Rivers Eligible Recreational 0.5 237

Seg. 5 3 Rivers Eligible Recreational 6.7 2,308

Yaak River—Scenery, Botany, Recreation, and History

Seg. 1 3 Rivers Eligible Recreational 3.5 1,842

Seg. 2 3 Rivers Eligible Recreational 7.1 2,734

Seg. 3 3 Rivers Eligible Recreational 6.2 2,068

Seg. 4 3 Rivers Eligible Scenic 9.0 2,586

West Fork Yaak River—Scenery and History

Seg. 1 3 Rivers Eligible Wild 4.2 1,330

6 2013 Forest Plan Errata
Kootenai National Forest

Seg. 2 3 Rivers Eligible Recreational 4.5 1,428

Vinal Creek System—Scenery and Recreation

Vinal Creek/Seg. 1 3 Rivers Eligible Scenic 3.9 1,074

Turner Creek/Seg. 2 3 Rivers Eligible Scenic 1.1 386

Vermilion River—Scenery and History

Seg. 1 Cabinet Eligible Recreational 11.1 3,599

Bull River System—Scenery

Bull River/Seg. 1 Cabinet Eligible Recreational 5.7 1,911

Bull River/Seg. 2 Cabinet Eligible Recreational 3.4 1,608

North Fork and Middle Fork Bull 

River/Seg.3 Cabinet Eligible Wild 12.6 4,135

East Fork Bull River/Seg. 4 Cabinet Eligible Recreational 4.1 1,119

East Fork Bull River/Seg. 5 Cabinet Eligible Wild 3.0 997

North Fork of the East Fork Bull 

River/Seg. 6 Cabinet Eligible Recreational 2.2 616

North Fork of the East Fork Bull 

River/Seg. 7 Cabinet Eligible Wild 1.4 497

Big Creek System—Recreation and Geology

Big Creek/Seg.1 Rexford Eligible Recreational 7.6 2,261

South Fork Big Creek/Seg. 2 Rexford Eligible Recreational 6.7 2,103

Little North. Fork Big Creek/Seg. 3 Rexford Eligible Wild 1.6 452

Good Creek/Seg. 4 Rexford Eligible Wild 2.4 717

North Fork Big Creek/Seg. 5 Rexford Eligible Wild 5.6 1,797

Copeland Creek/Seg. 6 Rexford Eligible Wild 1.8 564

Lookout Creek/Seg. 7 Rexford Eligible Wild 2.4 725

East Fork Lookout Creek/Seg. 7 Rexford Eligible Wild 1.5 443

Unnamed Tributary to Lookout 

Creek/Seg. 7 Rexford Eligible Wild 1.7 515

Callahan Creek

Callahan Creek/Seg. 1 3 Rivers Eligible Recreational 6.2 1,326

South Fork Callahan Creek/Seg. 2 3 Rivers Eligible Recreational 6.8 971

Ross Creek System

2013 Forest Plan Errata 7
Kootenai National Forest

Ross Creek/Seg. 1 3 Rivers Eligible Scenic 2.6 811

Ross Creek/Seg. 2 3 Rivers Eligible Wild 4.8 1,527

Total1 150.0 48,086 

1 Total acres are more than those shown in table 8 because of overlapping management areas. As noted with table 8

several management areas are higher in the hierarchy than MA2. There are 4,200 acres of MA2 within MA1a, and 2,500

acres in MA1b.

Page 55: MA3—Botanical, Geological, Historical, Recreational, Scenic, or 

Zoological Areas; Description

Add the following to Table 11:

Table 5. Botanical, Geological, Historical, Recreational, Scenic, or Zoological Areas

Name District Acres Classification

Frank Lake Fishing Access1 Fortine 91 Recreational

Total Acres2 48,386

1 Areas designated under the 1987 Forest Plan (as amended)

2 Total acres are more than those shown in table 8 because of overlapping management areas. As noted with table 8, 

several management areas are higher in the hierarchy than MA3. There are 40 acres of MA3 within MA1a, 100 acres in 

MA1b, 15,400 acres in MA1c, 1,350 acres in MA2, and 100 acres in MA4.

8 2013 Forest Plan Errata
Chapter 5—KNF Monitoring Program

Page 97: Table 22: Vegetation

Resource Monitoring Question Reference to Forest Plan 

Direction

Indicator(s) Frequency of 

Measure/Precision

Vegetation MON-VEG-02: Have 

management activities met Plan 

objectives and trended towards 

desired conditions for invasive 

terrestrial plant species?

FW-DC-VEG-10, FW-OBJ-VEG-02 MON-VEG-02-01: Acres of non-native 

invasive plants treated

MON-VEG-02-02: Number of sites of 

new non-native invasive plant species and 

number of acres treated

Annual/Class A

Annual/Class A

Page 100: Table 22; Federally Listed Species 

Remove parenthetical reference to INFISH monitoring requirements from indicator MON-FLS-01-03.

Page 102: Table 22; Access and Recreation

Change MON-AR-02-03 precision to Class B

Page 102: Table 22; Access and Recreation

Change MON-AR-03-05 precision to Class B

Page 103–104; Table 22; Wilderness

Combine MON-WILDN-01 and 02 as follows: 

Resource Monitoring Question Reference to Forest Plan 

Direction

Indicator(s) Frequency of 

Measure/Precision

Wilderness MON-WLDN-01: Have 

management activities met Forest 

Plan desired conditions and 

standards, and trended towards 

management area desired 

conditions for designated 

wilderness and Wilderness Study 

Areas?

MA1a-DC-AR-01, MA1a-DC-AR04; FW-DC-AR-06MON-WLDN-01-01: Designated 

Wilderness managed to standard

MON-WLDN-01-02: Montana Wilderness 

Study Area wilderness character is not 

diminished beyond what existed in 1977

Annual/Class A

2013 Forest Plan Errata 9

Glossary

Page 113: Hydrological stability

Add the following term and definition:

Hydrological stability Condition where the potential for road failure and sedimentation 

is expected to be reduced.

Page 113: Invasive species

Replace the invasive species definition with the following: 

Invasive Species Executive Order 13112 defines an invasive species as “an alien 

species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or 

environmental harm or harm to human health.” The Forest 

Service relies on Executive Order 13112 to provide the basis for 

labeling certain organisms as invasive. Based on this definition, 

the labeling of a species as “invasive” requires closely 

examining both the origin and effects of the species. The key is 

that the species must cause, or be likely to cause, harm and be 

exotic to the ecosystem it has infested before we can consider 

labeling it as “invasive”. Thus, native pests are not considered 

“invasive”, even though they may cause harm. Invasive species 

infest both aquatic and terrestrial areas and can be identified 

within any of the following four taxonomic categories: Plants, 

Vertebrates, Invertebrates, and Pathogens.

Page 116: Noxious weeds

Replace the noxious weeds definition with:

Noxious weeds Any plant or plant product that can directly or indirectly injure or 

cause damage to crops (including nursery stock or plant 

products), livestock, poultry, or other interests of agriculture, 

irrigation, navigation, the natural resources of the United States, 

the public health, or the environment. The term typically 

describes species of plants that have been determined to be 

undesirable or injurious in some capacity. Federal noxious weeds 

are regulated by USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service under the Plant Protection Act of 2000, which 

superseded the Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974. State statues 

for noxious weeds vary widely, with some States lacking any 

laws defining or regulating noxious weeds. Depending on the 

individual State law, some plants listed by a State statute as 

“noxious” may be native plants which that State has determined 

to be undesirable. When the species are native, they are not 

considered invasive species by the Federal Government. 

However, in most cases, State noxious weed lists include only 

exotic (non-native) species.

2013 Forest Plan Errata

Appendix A—Possible Actions

Page 129: Vegetative Management

Change the noxious weeds to invasive terrestrial plant species in the seventh bullet.

Page 130: Watershed, Soils, Riparian, Aquatic Habitat, and Aquatic Species

Change the noxious weeds to invasive terrestrial plant species in the first bullet.

Page 130: Wildlife

Change the noxious weeds to invasive terrestrial plant species in the first bullet.

2013 Forest Plan Errata