What steps are involved in park planning?

For each project, the planning process takes a course that leads it to becoming either a Categorical Exclusion (CE) document, an Environmental Assessment (EA) or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Initial public outreach and internal scoping are early steps in the planning process to get general ideas and concepts out on the table for discussion. Internal scoping is an opportunity for National Park Service staff to comment on a particular project or planning effort, and decide what should be analyzed in a NEPA document. 

Public scoping is the next step in the planning process in which the public and other agencies are invited to submit comments related to the project. This is a great opportunity to get your ideas and voices heard during the planning process.

Alternatives are developed following the comment processes, along with a Public Comment and Response Report which all become publicly available with the environmental document.

The environmental document, either the EA or EIS will then be available for public review following its publication and completion. Based on comments received during the document review, park managers and compliance employees will determine the need for re-assessment on specifics, alternatives, or other actions.

A finalized planning document is then created and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) package is presented to the park superintendent and regional director for their signatures. This package includes any technical corrections, public comments and responses on the document, and the overall statement of the alternative chosen. Once signed the plan is then finalized.

One of the documents utilized throughout the planning process in Yosemite Valley is:

• A Sense of Place - Design Guidelines for Yosemite Valley (32 MB PDF)

Similar design guidelines will be developed for other districts within the park.

Click here to review fact sheets for all current planning efforts and projects.

The National Park Service prepares a variety of planning and environmental documents to help guide it in managing park resources. These documents can range from site-specific impact analyses on facility locations to broader park-wide plans for future use and management of a park. There are three main categories that planning documents fall into:

Categorical Exclusion (CE)
By definition, a categorical exclusion refers to a group of actions, typically within a single project, that does not individually or cumulatively have a significant impact on the human environment. These exclusions also, by law have been found to have no effect in the federal guidelines that the National Park Service follows. Because of this, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is required.

Categorical exclusions for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 are available electronically. You can find CEs since October 2005 here.

Environmental Assessments (EA)
These are public documents required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that identifies and analyzes activities that might affect the human and natural environment. An environmental assessment is a concise public document which provides sufficient evidence and analysis for determining whether to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), aids an agency’s compliance with NEPA when no EIS is necessary, and it facilitates preparation of an EIS when one is necessary.

Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)
A detailed statement required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when an agency proposes a major action that significantly affects the quality of the human environment. This document describes and analyzes the activities that might affect the human environment

Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC)

The PEPC site contains all of the currently active plans and environmental documents for the National Park Service and allows you to read through and comment on them if applicable.