Tongass National Forest

The Standards and Guides for the 1/3 of the Tongass that is designated Wilderness are very general. The monitoring questions in the plan ask if they are effective and being implemented. The S&Gs may be too broad to be applied to these landscapes. Wilderness management has evolved to the point that specific monitoring indicators for both social and resource impacts are available to implement.

Budget direction under BFES also presently identifies 10 elements to evaluate whether a specific Wilderness Area is managed to standard. Two of these elements refer to the adequacy of monitoring standards in the forest plan. Others include invasive plant monitoring and baseline air quality monitoring, which are not specifically covered in the Standards and Guidelines for Wilderness, but are covered in other parts of the Monitoring Plan.

Evaluate the Wilderness monitoring strategy included in the Plan and assess to see if it needs to be adjusted to better reflect current uses and conditions.

• Forest Recreation Staff Officer
• Forest Wilderness Specialist
• Forest Monitoring Coordinator
• Forest Planner

• Develop a protocol for monitoring Wilderness Areas on the Tongass and submit to the committee analyzing Forest Plan monitoring.