Well, now, you’ve got an extra 10 days to submit comments on the proposed Forest Plan Revision for the Flathead National Forest. Here’s the bulk of the official press release . . .

A 10-day extension to the public comment period, now concluding on May 15, 2015, has been authorized for the proposed action for the Flathead Forest Plan revision and the proposed forest plan amendments to incorporate relevant direction from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy. Comments are used to identify the range of issues to be addressed and the significant concerns related to the proposed action. This scoping process will assist the interdisciplinary team in developing a reasonable range of alternatives and in the analysis and documentation of the environmental and social effects of the proposed plan components and alternatives, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures. There will be additional opportunities for commenting, including a 90-day comment period, once the draft environmental impact statement is available, which is anticipated in January 2016.

In March, the Flathead National Forest released for public comment the proposed action for the revision of the land and resource management plan (forest plan) as directed by the National Forest Management Act. The proposed action for the revised forest plan includes management direction to support a variety of proposed and possible actions that may occur on the plan area over the next ~15 years, or life of the plan.

The Flathead National Forest plan revision website provides the full proposed action text for the revision, describing preliminary desired conditions, objectives, standards, guidelines, and other plan content; the 2014 Assessment; summaries of the public meetings and public meeting materials, and public comments. The revision component of the proposed action is located at
www.fs.usda.gov/goto/flathead/fpr. The amendment component of the proposed action can be found at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/flathead/gbamend. Links to the 2012 planning rule and the draft NCDE Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy can be found on these websites as well.

For further information about the project, contact Joe Krueger, Forest Planner, Flathead National Forest, 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, Montana 59901, (406) 758-5243, or at flatheadplanrevision@fs.fed.us.