Common Sense. Common Ground.

A template for building consensus on public land management from Montana’s Custer Gallatin National Forest.

Caring For Common Ground

Every 15-20 years, each U.S. National Forest is tasked with revising its Forest Plan. Following directions established by a national regulation called the 2012 Forest Planning Rule, the Forest Service develops a land management plan for individual national forests. At their best, Forest Plans do the difficult job of balancing wildly diverse uses, while ensuring that the land - and all that it offers - will healthily exist for generations to come. It is an extremely important process. And almost nothing that’s extremely important is easy. 

In the best examples of a Forest Plan revision process, local residents, business owners, recreationists, conservationists, and others band together to plan for, care for, and sustain the land we all depend on. It can be collaborative. It can strengthen a community. It can lead to more protection and more people to care. Just like it did for the community surrounding Montana’s 3.2 million-acre Custer Gallatin National Forest (CGNF).

The (Re)Creation Of A Forest Plan

Forest plan revision seems like a bit of a misnomer to us. Holistic re-creation seems more on point, because it is so much more than just a few edits. You could call participating in a Forest Plan revision a marathon, because it can take years of monthly and even weekly meetings. You could call it a community therapy session, since patience, empathy and consideration of others is necessary every step of the way. You could call it painstaking, because you just might spend ten hours talking granularly about a very specific species of weed. And yeah, it is easy to get stuck in the weeds about how hard it can be.

The revision process is all of these things. But for Outdoor Alliance and those who were a part of the Custer Gallatin National Forest plan revision over the last five years, the process has also been satisfying. It has been hopeful and exciting — a chance to truly make a difference for a place and community that they love. It has been thorough and holistic — much more than the word revision might suggest. The collaborative experience has strengthened the bonds of the community. (A conservationist and a rancher met and got married because of the process!) It has been a growing experience. A learning experience. And a way for people to use their superpowers for good. 

Maybe you’re good at relationship building. Public speaking. Organizing. Mountain biking or horseback riding. Maybe you know nothing about land management, but know a lot about numbers or about felling trees. Or maybe you’re a fast learner that loves outdoor adventure and wants to make sure that opportunity exists in the future.There is a place for everyone in the process, if you care about and believe in the power of the outdoors.

A Multi-Year Process That Balances Diverse Input

Overall, the revision of the Custer Gallatin Forest Plan will have taken about five years. The Forest Service sets the pace for the revision process and is required to provide multiple opportunities for us, the public, to participate. And in Montana, two entities made the most of every single opportunity to participate. The Gallatin Forest Partnership (GFP est. 2016) and Outdoor Alliance’s Montana regional network (OAMT) joined forces, meeting regularly to collaborate, compromise, and create vision proposals to advise and guide the Forest Service along the way. Local residents, business owners, timber representatives, conservationists, and recreationists with wheels, feet, hooves, and motors. A broad and diverse group of stakeholders showed up.

 The Assessment Phase (2016-2018)

Once the Forest Service announced they would be revising the Forest Plan, the Gallatin Range-focused GFP was established and began building a diverse coalition of people and perspectives. OAMT was established soon after, representing human-powered recreation across the forest, and many OAMT members were also part of GFP. These two groups organized workshops to engage the broader community, held monthly meetings, listened and gathered opinions. And OAMT assessed the economic impact of recreation on the forest and crafted a vision document to express the hopes and goals for human-powered recreation in the CGNF Forest Plan. Things were rolling.

Thorough And Inclusive: Three Years For NEPA (2018-2020)

NEPA, or the National Environmental Policy Act, is the federal law that requires agencies like the Forest Service to conduct environmental analysis on major decisions, including forest planning. The NEPA process includes comment periods that are meant to incorporate public voices and opinions. The NEPA process gives the Forest Service a chance to study impacts on the land and gives the public and other stakeholders a chance to weigh in. 

The Forest Service drafted an assessment of current conditions and an associated document describing the need for change in regards to the current forest plans (until recently the CGNF was 2 separate forests governed by 2 separate forest plans). They called upon the public to give their feedback, which OAMT, along with many other individuals and organizations, provided. Based on these documents and the public comments received, the Forest Service drafted a Proposed Action and asked for public feedback again. This was the start of the NEPA process. The GFP and OAMT weighed in, sharing proposals for what the revised forest plan should include. Based on the information gathered during this comment period, the Forest Service wrote a Draft Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Again, the public was asked to comment and thousands submitted letters. Several times during this process, the OAMT crew met with the Forest Service locally and in Washington D.C. to talk about their priorities for conservation and their overall vision for human-powered recreation in the plan. 

During the Draft EIS comment period, OAMT emphasized public outreach and education to share the contents of the Draft Plan and Draft EIS, with the goal of gathering letters of support for a common sense, community-driven, sustainable land management plan. At the end of 2020, the Forest Service released the Draft Record of Decision and Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for public review. Anybody who had commented on the Proposed Action or Draft Plan/Draft EIS had standing to file an objection to the Draft Record of Decision, to provide suggestions for final tweaks to the Draft Plan. And this year, 2021, the Forest Service will issue a Final Revised Plan for Montana’s Custer Gallatin National Forest. The process was thorough and inclusive. The plan is thorough and inclusive. 

An Important First Step: Start With Shared Values

Starting with shared values sounds well and good. But how did this process work for this group, with such different positions on land usage, to create a common sense plan for land management? Well, the most important part of the process happened first. The coalition leaders decided to start from a place of shared values, rather than focusing on their varied positions.

During a collaborative group Values Session, GFP and OAMT members shared how they felt while outside. What recreation gave them personally and why they love wild Montana. Once everyone agreed that spending time outdoors was important, and having a place to do it was important, and that the modes of adventuring just happen to be different, members were able to pursue the common goal: creating a common sense plan to sustain the land for the future. They proceeded through the lengthy process with a solid, common touchpoint of trust to return to during tough conversations and through seemingly contradictory positions.

Outdoor Alliance’s Goal: Make Accessibility Fair And Sensible. Keep The Experience Wild.

A management plan that will affect 3.2 million acres is complex. But, as with anything that seems unwieldy, it is helpful to have a clear North Star to follow. Outdoor Alliance’s vision for recreation in the Custer Gallatin Forest Plan is a place where you can have an incredible outdoor adventure in an incredibly wild setting. A major challenge was thinking of ways we could preserve and enhance recreation opportunities and increase land protections - two things that can at times seem at odds with one another.

Increasing recreation access for wheels, hooves, and feet alike takes patience and understanding of those niche pursuits, the equipment they use, the experience they hope for. Sometimes all interests were represented in the coalition meetings, but often they weren’t. And that meant considering users not present and planning for their enjoyment of the land. Maintaining the wild feeling in some places relies on focusing usage in other places. It means thinking way ahead and looking at the environment from all angles. Because at the end of the day, public land is a multi-purpose resource. 

The Result: More Protection. More People To Care. 

This process and the resulting plan proves that multiple interests can coexist in a place that is home to strong convictions, valuable resources, serene sweeping space, and beloved giant mountains. It demonstrates that cooperation and involvement can lead to success. The Final Plan reflects diverse interests and includes the years-long labor of love that regular, extraordinary community members stepped up to participate in. Did everyone get exactly what they wanted? No. But that’s compromise. And flexible minds contributed to what is officially believed to be A Pretty Darn Good Forest Plan that is set to be finalized this year. In other states, Outdoor Alliance moves forward with the knowledge that the outcome will only ever be as good at the process and that it is imperative for the recreation community to be involved.

Advice From Montana: Be Flexible. Be Patient. Be Tenacious. Get Involved.

Within the CGNF Forest Plan, there are several case studies in compromise and resolution. For example, the Porcupine Buffalo Horn, a prized area for backcountry mountain biking in the CGNF, lies within a Wilderness Study Area and is also a high priority for conservation. It is home to dozens of miles of backcountry-view single track that takes you to a pristine alpine lake, and also provides important habitat for elk, grizzly bears, and other wildlife. Just outside of Big Sky and one hour south of outdoor-obsessed Bozeman, the Porcupine Buffalo Horn is beloved by bikers, recreationists, and conservationists. For decades, these stakeholders have debated how it should be managed. But with the collaboration and trust built between the mountain bike community and conservation organizations, the revised CGNF Forest Plan leverages a management designation called Backcountry Area. This designation allows a roadless area with high conservation value to include established recreation uses not typically compatible with wilderness requirements. The final CGNF Forest Plan will likely sustainably maintain the Porcupine Buffalo Horn as a mountain biking resource and protect its wildlife habitat.

Can this be done elsewhere? Unequivocally, the answer is yes. According to Mel Cronin of SWMMBA, who was a key participant in the planning process, success requires “people with flexible minds.” It takes patience, because it is complex. It takes people who are willing to dig in, learn as they go, and to actively care for the places that have shaped them as humans. And one thing is certain: the outdoor recreation community was such a big part of making the CGNF revision process successful.

The best way to have your interests represented is to get involved. You can reach out to a recreation organization that focuses on the sport you love or a conservation organization that focuses on your region. They have individuals whose job it is to Get. You. Involved. You can participate. The outcome will most certainly be better if you do.

Thank you to the following organizations and individuals for their work on this narrative, and on building better forest plans:

Winter Wildlands Alliance

Southwest Montana Mountain Bike Association

Montana Backcountry Alliance

Chris Ennis

Duct Tape Then Beer