United States 

Department of The ReVision Review Agriculture 

Forest Service Your Connection to 

Southwestern 

Region Forest Plan Revision on the 

MB-R3-01-1 Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests 

December 2008 
A Message from the Forest Supervisor


First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Chris 

Knopp, the new forest supervisor for the ApacheSitgreaves National Forests (ASNFs). 

I’m excited to be here and I’m enjoying getting settled in 

Springerville, starting the new job, and getting to know 

the people and places around the forests. 

In my last assignment, I served as the deputy director of 

Ecosystem Conservation in the Pacific Southwest Region 

of the Forest Service in Vallejo, California. I have over 30 

years experience with the Forest Service and have worked 

in several western states and Washington DC. Along 

with my management experience, I have a scientific 

background in forestry and hydrology. 

Chris Knopp, Supervisor

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests 

Like most forests in our Nation, the ASNFs face many 

challenges as we move into the future. I thank you 

for working with the planning team to identify those 

issues that are important to you. I look forward to 

developing a revised plan that will address the topics 

of maintenance and improvement of ecosystem health, 

managed recreation, and community-forest interaction. 

With publication of the notice of initiation in the Federal 

Register, we have formally initiated the plan revision 

process and are ready to work with you to build the 

proposed plan. 

I encourage you to stay engaged in the forest plan 

revision process. I look forward to meeting you and better 

understanding your concerns and interests. Feel free to 

contact me at (928) 333-4301. 

View from the Mogollon Rim, 

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests

Forest Supervisor Chris Knopp

“Caring for the Land and Serving People”

1 
The ReVision Process . . .


Where Are We 


in the Plan Revision Process?


Since 2006, we have focused on the “need for change”­— 

what needs to change in the Apache-Sitgreaves National 

Forests and its management. Based on your input and 

our science-based evaluations, this “need for change”­ is 

summarized in the “Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests’ 

Comprehensive Evaluation Report” (CER). 

As 2009 approaches, we are entering a new phase in 

the process – development of the proposed plan. We 

actually started this work by developing a set of initial 

draft desired conditions. These were made available for 

your review this past summer. We received hundreds of 

comments and have updated these draft desired conditions 

(on our Web site). 

Based on your feedback, the planning team is going to 

develop a more complete version of the draft proposed 

plan. You told us that you would like something 

more substantive to comment on than just the desired 

conditions. The draft proposed plan will contain all of 

the five required plan components (desired conditions, 

objectives, suitability of areas, special areas, and 

guidelines). 

We anticipate having a draft proposed plan available 

for your review and hosting public meetings to gather 

your feedback in spring of 2009. This will give us time 

to gather your comments and incorporate them prior to 

issuing the proposed plan. The pre-decisional proposed 

plan will be available for a formal 90-day comment period 

in the fall. 

Key Steps in the Forest Plan Revision Process 

Step What You Can Do When 

Initial Public Meetings Learn about the planning process and let us know what we need

to focus on during plan revision. 

July 2006 -

January 2007

 Comprehensive

Evaluation Report (CER) 

Provide input to the CER—including current conditions and

trends on the forests. Help review the draft CER. Winter 2008 

Develop the Proposed Plan 

Let’s work together to develop desired conditions, objectives, 

special areas, suitability of areas, guidelines, and a monitoring

plan. 

Fall 2008 -

Summer 2009 

90-day Comment Period This is your chance to provide formal written comments

regarding the proposed plan you’ve helped to build. Fall 2009 

30-day Objection Period A chance to file a formal objection regarding the proposed plan. Summer 2010 

Approve Plan Forest supervisor approves the plan, help us implement the

revised plan. Fall 2010 

2 
The Need for Change . . . 


“Need for Change” Documents 

Available for Review 

The “Comprehensive Evaluation Report” (CER) and its 

associated documents are available for review. The CER, 

“Ecological Sustainability Report,” and “Economic and 

Social Sustainability Assessment”­ provide the sciencebased background regarding “need for change”­ or why we 

need to revise the forest plan. 

These documents outline the background and findings 

related to the forests’ contributions to ecological, 

economic, and social sustainability. The “need for 

change”­ is summarized under three revision topics: 

maintenance and improvement of ecosystem health, 

managed recreation, and community-forest interaction. 

The documents are located in the plan set of documents 

section on our Web site at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/ 

plan-revision/documents.shtml. 

The Components 

of a Revised Forest Plan 

It is important to realize that desired conditions (see 

next page) are only one of five components that provide 

a framework to guide on-the-ground management of 

projects and activities. The additional components will 

be in the form of objectives, special areas, suitability of 

areas, and guidelines. 

Objectives describe how we move toward achieving 

desired conditions. Special areas are designated for the 

special or unique characteristics that contribute to desired 

conditions. Areas of the forests will be identified as 

generally suitable for various uses. Guidelines provide 

the sideboards within which projects or activities may 

occur. These other plan components will be developed 

collaboratively as we move through the revision process. 

The revised plan will also contain a monitoring program. 

NOI - A Major Milestone 

The notice of initiation (NOI) to revise the “ApacheSitgreaves National Forests’ Land and Resource 

Management Plan”­ (forest plan) is scheduled to be 

published in the Federal Register in December 2008. This 

notice formally initiates the forest plan revision process. It 

describes the comprehensive evaluation report and invites 

review. The NOI also summarizes the need to change the 

forest plan and provides an estimated schedule for the 

planning process. Once published, a copy of the NOI will 

be posted on our Web site at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/ 

plan-revision/documents.shtml. 

3 
Developing Draft Desired Conditions . . .


Thanks for Your Input 

on the Initial Draft Desired Conditions 

A big THANK YOU to those who attended the public 

meetings in September and to everyone who sent in 

comments regarding the initial draft desired conditions. 

As you may recall, this summer we asked for your 

feedback on the initial draft desired conditions. Desired 

conditions are just one of five required components 

of a revised plan. Desired conditions are the “social, 

economic, and ecological attributes toward which 

management of the land and resources is to be directed”­

(36 CFR 219). Basically, desired conditions “paint the 

picture”­ describing what the forests should look like or 

what goods and services can be provided. The other plan 

components to be developed include objectives, suitability 

of areas, special areas, and guidelines. 

We received hundreds of comments related to the initial 

draft desired conditions. The planning team reviewed each 

comment and made changes, where appropriate. 

Although we received many comments that resulted in a 

change to the draft desired conditions, we also received 

several comments that are not desired conditions, but may 

be useful in the future to develop other plan components. 

We will utilize those comments as we develop a more 

complete draft of the proposed plan. Some examples of 

comments that are not desired conditions include: 

• Wildlife and livestock grazing, logging and fire are 

natural tools for healthy biodiverse ecosystems and 

result in a decrease in money spent in an attempt to 

mimic natural controls (objective). 

• The juniper trees need to be removed and thinned to 

increase the grasses to protect the soil (objective). 

• Road density—no more than 1 mile of motorized 

route per square mile (guideline). 

• Reduce sediment—install water bars or sediment 

traps (guideline). 

• Riparian areas—should be strictly off limits to 

motorized vehicles (suitability of areas). 

• Disturbance of wildlife should not be used as a 

reason to justify motorized recreation and access 

closures (suitability of areas).

• Preservation of some areas for old growth (special 

area). 

• Landscape designations such as “wilderness,”­

“critical habitat,”­ etc., are removed allowing the FS’s 

founding stewardship purpose to occur (special area). 

• Monitoring and evaluation must be made consistent 

with and pursuant to the best available scientific 

information, techniques and methods, and any 

conclusions based on these evaluations must by 

statistically significant (monitoring program). 

The planning team also reviewed the initial draft desired 

conditions. We, too, had included text that was really not 

desired conditions. For example: Livestock carcasses are 

not available for scavenging within the Mexican Wolf 

Recovery Zone. This statement is actually one method for 

achieving the desired condition that livestock and wolf 

conflicts are minimized. We also removed text that was 

already present in existing law, policy, or regulation (i.e. 

theft of forest products does not occur) since there is no 

need to repeat these existing requirements. 

The latest version of the draft desired conditions can be 

found on our Web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/ 

plan-revision/documents.shtml. There is currently a 

regional effort underway to develop desired conditions for 

forest and woodland types that apply to all national forests 

in Arizona. Once this effort is complete, these desired 

conditions will be incorporated and another draft version 

of the desired conditions will be posted to the Web site 

(anticipate this to be in January 2008). If you have any 

questions or concerns, please contact a planning team 

member. 

4 
Get Involved in Your National Forest . . . 


Plan Revision Team – 

At Your Service 

A core team has been dedicated to complete the information systems (GIS), timber, range management, 

revision of the forest plan. This team is based out of the and public affairs. 

supervisor’s office in Springerville, Arizona. If you have 

any questions or comments, feel 

free to contact one of the team 

members. Many other resource 

specialists are sharing their 

expertise and skills in the revision 

efforts as well. These extended team 

members come from a wide range 

of specialties, including archeology, 

recreation, wildlife, fisheries, 

engineering, transportation systems, 

lands, fire and fuels, geographic 

Forest Plan Revision Core Team 

Planning Staff Officer Deryl Jevons (928) 333-6261 

Plan Revision Team Leader Michelle Davalos (928) 333-6334 

Ecologist Mitchel White (928) 333-6348 

Recreation Planner Evelyn Treiman (928) 333-6322 

Watershed and Soils Chris Nelson (928) 333-6303 

Wildlife Biologist Genice Froehlich (928) 368-2104 

Silviculture Jerry Drury (928) 333-6312 

Let us know if you have other ideas that 

will better help us work together! 

Participate in 


Forest Plan Revision . . .


Your participation and comments are encouraged and E-Mail: asnf.planning@fs.fed.us—contact us with 

welcomed. There are several ways to participate in your questions or comments. 

the forest plan revision process: Phone: (928) 333-4301—ask for a planning team 

Public Meetings: a chance to interact and work with member. 

Forest Service representatives and other members of Fax: (928) 333-5966

the public. Look for our next public meetings in the 

spring of 2009. TTY: (928) 333-6292 

Web site: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/plan-revision/ Regular Mail: USDA Forest Service 

—a place to find more information about the revision Attn: Plan Revision Team 

process and opportunity to provide comments. P.O. Box 640 

Springerville, AZ 85938 

5 
The 2009 Capitol Christmas Tree . . . 


Arizona and the Apache-Sitgreaves 

National Forests have been asked to 

provide the Capitol Christmas Tree in 

2009. 

Finding the perfect Christmas tree to celebrate the 

holidays is an American tradition shared by many, but 

it can be a daunting task. So imagine trying to find the 

perfect Christmas tree to display in front of the Nation’s 

Capitol. 

This is the task of the ASNFs as it 

prepares to host the 2009 Capitol 

Christmas Tree. 

Asking a national forest to provide “the People’s Tree”­ as 

the Capitol Tree is often called, is a tradition that started 

in 1970. Each year since then, a different national forest 

and the state in which the forest is located, are asked to 

provide a very special tree and all of the trimmings, as a 

gift to our nation. 

We have the opportunity to showcase all that is special 

and unique about Arizona, the beauty and diversity of 

our natural resources, the richness of our cultures, the 

products and services of our businesses, and the talents 

and generosity of our people. 

The opportunity is a special one, and we hope Arizonans 

will take on the project with enthusiasm and pride. It is 

going to take a lot of work to find this perfect tree—60 to 

70 feet tall, perfectly shaped and easy to get to. ASNFs’ 

officials need to identify potential trees within the next 

year. There will also be quite a bit of work to create the 

tree’s ornaments and to transport the tree to Washington, 

DC. 

If your group or organization would like to partner with 

the ASNFs in this very special event, please call 928-

333-4301 and ask for Rick Davalos, or e-mail Rick at 

rdavalos@fs.fed.us. 

For additional information and activity updates over this 

next year, be sure to visit the Web site at: 

The 2005 Capitol Christmas T http://www.capitolchristmastree2009.org. ree, from New Mexico 

and the Santa Fe National Forest 

6 
Help Shape the Future of Your National Forest! 

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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. 

Printed on recycled paper • December 2008 

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests 

Supervisor’s Office 

Forest Plan Revision Team 

30 South Chiricahua Drive 

P.O. Box 640 

Springerville, AZ 85938 

We’re on the Web! 

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/plan-revision/