Planning
The revised Land and Resource Management Plan (LMP) guides all natural resource management activities and sets management standards for the Cherokee National Forest (CNF) for the next 10 to 15 years.
The National Forest Management Act (NFMA), implementing regulations, and other documents guided the preparation of this forest plan. Land-use determinations, management practices, goals, objectives, standards, and guidelines are statements of CNF plan's management direction. Projected yields, services, and rate of implementation are dependent on the annual budgeting process.
This LMP provides broad program-level direction for management of the land and its resources. Future projects carry out the direction in this forest plan. This LMP does not contain a commitment to select any specific project. An environmental analysis is conducted, when required, on these projects as they are proposed. This analysis may tier to the data and evaluations in other environmental impact statements.
In addition to direction found in this LMP, projects also are implemented through direction found in the Forest Service directive system (manuals and handbooks) and other guides (see Chapter 5, “Monitoring and Evaluation).