The U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest (which includes Oregon and Washington) and Pacific Southwest (which includes California) Research Stations are developing a science synthesis to inform the revision of land management plans for 17 national forests within the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) area.

The NWFP amended land management plans in 1994 to protect threatened and endangered species associated with late successional and old-growth forest habitats while still contributing to social and economic sustainability. USFS Region 5 (California) and Region 6 (Oregon and Washington) have requested the synthesis to provide a thorough, up-to-date review of the relevant scientific literature pertaining to key resource management topics within the NWFP area.

The NWFP study area runs from just North of San Francisco Bay to the Canadian border, from the Pacific Ocean to the Eastern slopes of the Northern California Coastal, Klamath and Cascade mountain ranges.

Details of the complete draft Science Synthesis are available at: http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/research/science-synthesis/. The document comprises 12 very long-winded, very technical, chapters, which mostly collect and restate the findings of previous scientific and social-science literature related to the earlier NWFP.

Comments on the draft Science Synthesis have been solicited and must be submitted no later than 06 January 2017. I suggest that BCP members may have an interest in this subject. Should you decide to submit comments in support of aviation access to USFS managed lands, I suggest you provide comments as follows:

Chapter 8 - Socioeconomic Well-Being and Forest Management in Northwest Forest Plan Area Communities

General
• NFS Travel Management Rules specifically defines airfields as part of the forest transportation system, but access by aircraft has not been discussed in the document.

• The draft NWFP Science Synthesis has not acknowledged aviation as a legitimate recreational use of the NFS lands.

• Considering the very nominal impact that airstrips and aircraft have on the forest environment, the importance of USFS airstrips within the Forest Transportation System, and the desire to increase wilderness access without constructing more vehicle roads and trails, the NWFP Science Synthesis should specifically acknowledge recreational aviation activities and access by aircraft.

1. Key Findings
a. Social and Economic Goals in Federal Forest Management Law and Policy, Pages 5 and 6 – the first paragraph should be amended to note that recent Congressional guidance, as well as USFS policy, has recognized the importance of providing access to NFS recreation areas, including wilderness areas. Aviation plays an important role in providing a means of access without creating new vehicular access routes.

b. Social and Economic Goals in Federal Forest Management Law and Policy, Page 9 – the paragraph should be amended to acknowledge that the planning rule (Sec. 219.19) acknowledges “recreational opportunities include non-motorized, motorized, developed, and dispersed recreation on land, water, and air. Examples include activities such as hiking, biking, hunting, geocaching, recreational aviation, hang gliding and many more”.

2. Social and Economic Changes in Rural Communities in the NWFP Area
a. Adaption to Change, page 27 – the final paragraph should be amended to acknowledge the importance of access to transportation infrastructure, particularly air transport for emergency medical services, fire fighting and disaster relief, to the well-bring of rural communities within the NWFP study area.

3. Contributions of Federal Forest Management to Socioeconomic Well-Being in Rural Communities
a. Recreation, page 68, para 1 – it should be acknowledged that because recreation opportunities on NFS lands are typically further from population centers and less intensively developed, recreational aircraft and backcountry airstrips play an important role in providing access.

b. Recreation, page 68, para 2 – the role that volunteers play, and the money that volunteers spend, to maintain recreational facilities, including backcountry airstrips, on NFS lands should be acknowledged.

Chapter 9: Understanding Our Changing Public Values, Resource, Uses and Engagement Practices

1. Outdoor Recreation
a. Visitation, page 42 - the chapter authors note that developed sites are predicted to have the greatest number of visitors, and the greatest visitation growth, through 2030. I wish to point out that recreational aviation could play an important role in providing a means of access to NFS recreational areas, without creating new vehicular access routes, thereby relieving pressure at traditional roadway access points.

b. Recreation activities, page 44, line 14 - the first paragraph should be amended to include aviation activities as follows: “…, boating, recreational aviation, and biking..

The submission of comments can be made via a web-portal at: https://www.cvent.com/events/public-input/registration-f1c47995e5094e0fad0137f7dbad96ec.aspx. You are welcome to copy and paste the above comments as your submission.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. We appreciate the time and effort you take to help protect our access to public lands

Richard Mayes
The Recreational Aviation Foundation
Oregon State Liaison

Nice summary of issues. I suggest anyone who comments also discuss specifically how YOU use aviation to access the NF, and why it is an 'essential' [to you and others] mode for you. For example, can you hike long distance? Ride horses to access back country? What importance for SAR would you place on back country airstrips now in affected areas? etc.

Great suggestion PapernScissors, thanks

Thanks for the heads up, Richard. I just submitted comments.

I'm a RAF member, but don't recall getting a notice about this directly from RAF. Glad I read it here. Maybe because my address is in Nevada. I also have a summer place in Northern California.

Pierre