The National Forest Management Act requires the Forest Service to develop management plans for all national forests.
Forest plans are lengthy, detailed documents that take several years to prepare.
During the planning process, the Forest Service must consider a broad range of alternatives and solicit public input as required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Forest plans are revised every ten to 15 years. The Forest Service began work on a revised plan in 1995. Between the fall of 1997 and the spring of 1998, they conducted a scoping process to determine what issues the public wanted addressed in the revision. The Forest Service held public open houses in every community in the White River region as well as in Denver and Grand Junction.