Cibola National Forest - Projects & Plans

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Projects & Plans

[Photograph]: Forest Service employees reviewing paperwork.

Land and Resource Management Plan Revisions

Kiowa, Rita Blanca, Black Kettle and McClellan Creek National Grasslands

In 1996, we began revising the 1985 Land and Resource Management Plan (Plan) for the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands. From 1996 to 1999, the Forest collaborated with the public through workshops, notices and newsletters to develop a set of Geographic Area Assessments that describe existing and desired conditions. In 2000, the Plan revision process was postponed due to uncertainty regarding planning regulations and budgets.

The Forest is now re-initiating Plan Revision, which will be divided into two distinct phases and two separate Plans: one for our four National Grasslands and one for the mountain districts of the National Forest. We will begin with the Grasslands Plan and expect to complete it in 18-24 months. By the end of 2007, we will begin revising the Plan for the mountain districts.

Cibola National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (1985)

Project Planning:

2007 Monitoring and Evaluation Report (1mb)

NEPA Information

NEPA Documents

Schedule of Proposed Actions (SOPA)

SOPA Explanation

Forest Service SOPA page for the Cibola National Forest

GIS

Because understanding geographic relationships is key to making wise resource management decisions...

The Cibola National Forest uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine how various components of the forest landscape relate to each other spatially. The GIS makes understanding these relationships possible because layers of spatial data representing different environmental components can be combined, or overlayed, together. This greatly enhances our ability to see how a management activity in one resource area impacts other resources. The GIS can model natural systems and accept potential management decisions as input. It can then simulate what effect these decisions will have on the ecosystem at both large and small scales.

The Cibola National Forest also uses a GIS for cartography, or making maps. Using a GIS to create maps is much faster and more accurate than creating them by hand. The maps produced by the Cibola GIS department serve a variety of uses. Some are poster-sized project maps used for internal or public meetings. Others depict things like personal use firewood areas or Christmas tree areas and are handed out to the public. Still others display up-to-date information on wildfires and are distributed to wildfire suppression personnel and news media.

Currently, all of the Cibola National Forest GIS data layers are undergoing major revisions. As these revisions are completed, we will make our GIS datasets available for download from this page.