Kalispell, MT: What assurance is there that local inputs will be listened to and that local decisions will be allowed, not just a top down heavy handed management?
The assessment reveals conditions and trends for the ” big picture,” within which local information can be viewed, as well as broader effects of local decisions determined. The ICBEMP ROD will establish overall goals and objectives for Forest Service and BLM managed lands within which local decisions will be made. The ROD will also include standards that must be complied with at the local level. While there will be little flexibility to modify standards of a procedural nature, (such as requirements for Ecosystem Analysis at the Watershed Scale (EAWS) or collaboration with Tribes, counties, and state governments,) many prescriptive standards, (such as requirements for snags, coarse woody materials, or Riparian Management Objectives) are intended to be modified using local information from EAWS and through a collaborative process. In other instances, standards have been tailored to certain situation or conditions, such as dry forests or low road density areas, but not to specific locatio
