Terminology for Advocacy

• Forest Service is federal land management agency and is a is a division of the US Department of Agriculture.  

• Forest Service Region There are 10 Forest Service Regions in the National Forest System. Each contains multiple Forests such as Custer Gallatin NF or Lolo NF.

• National Forest is a specific division with the USFS (e.g. Custer Gallatin National Forest). It is also used generally to refer to all the lands of the USFS (e.g. "I walk my dog in the national forest"). 

• Forest Planning (i.e. Forest plan revision, i.e. Land Management Planning) is the process that the Forest Service uses to plan and designate management types for blocks of land. Forest planning is supposed to happen every 15 years but often the interval between forest plans stretches up to 30. Forest Planning is a nuanced and complicated process requiring environmental assessment, multiple plan alternatives, public collaboration and multiple alternatives for public review.

• Forest Plan Alternatives are multiple options or proposals offered by the Forest Service for public comment and consideration before finalizing a new plan.

• Travel Planning is a detailed planning process that administratively designates specific routes for specific modes of travel as well as seasonal closures. Decisions on the individual trail level are made here, not in forest planning. Travel Planning occurs every 15 years or so on each Forest. Custer Gallatin NF has interim orders, but we expect it is mostly stable.

• The Wilderness Act was passed in 1964. It created the legal designation of Wilderness and specific set of criteria, requirements and use restrictions for this type of land. The intent of the Wilderness Act is to preserve wild places.  It takes an Act of Congress to designate Wilderness.  Considered the “gold standard” of conservation by some environmental groups. Management is generally hand-off. Mechanized transport is not allowed.

• Wilderness is used to both describe land designated by the Wilderness Act and applied generally to wild backcountry areas. Designated Wilderness ends up with a name like Lee Metcalf Wilderness with a "capital W" vs. the general term as in "I was lost in the wilderness".

• Recommended Wilderness Areas (RWA) are areas that the Forest Service recommends to Congress as candidates for designation as Wilderness. They usually make this recommendation during Forest Plan Revision after passing the required steps of inventory, evaluation and analysis. Only Congress can designate Wilderness. RWAs are an administrative recommendation.  The USFS handbook allows for adaptive management of RWAs by the land manger, limiting uses as needed to protect the resource. It allows but does not require a complete ban of bikes or other uses.

• A Wilderness Study Area (WSA) contains undeveloped United States federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, and is managed in a way as to not to degrade its character.  Created by Congress, these areas frequently had existing non conforming uses such as snowmobile and motorcycle use, and the intent of congress was that these uses continue until Wilderness designation or release.  WSAs were not intended to be permanent. In Montana, the WSAs were designated in 1977 and were supposed to be studied for five years with a recommendation for designation or release in seven. WSAs require Congress to resolve their status, USFS can not release or designate them.

• Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRA) are identified in a set of roadless areas with maps created in the 1980s and updated in 2001. Most RWA are drawn from this category of land, but not all IRA is recommended for Wilderness. Generally, these areas are protected because roads cannot be built there. Trails can be built here.

• Backcountry is a general term for more remote areas. It is also an administrative area in some modern forest plans (Backcountry Area - BCA). They may allow or exclude motorized or sometimes mechanized travel.

• Adaptive Management is the way that the land manager takes cues from a changing human and natural environment and updates management to address these issues. Adaptive management could address issues such as recreation use or climate change as old strategies become inadequate.

• Mechanized Travel is a term that is defined specifically to include most devices with moving parts, but mainly used to describe mountain bikes and hang gliders. Mechanized travel is not allowed in designated Wilderness. In 1984, agency policy changed the definition of mechanized transport to describes bikes and hang gliders while other forms of transport using moving parts are still allowed in Wilderness such as climbing aides and pogo sticks. Click here to go down the mechanized rabbit hole.

• Primitive can mean a few different things. It can refer to landscapes which have little to no visual impacts from humans and was a precursor to designated Wilderness. It can be a general term to talk about land or recreation which is simple and has few to no modern amenities. It is also a Recreation Opportunity Spectrum category which has a different meaning on each Forest. In the Custer Gallatin plan revision, bicycles will not be allowed in these areas, or these areas will be drawn where bicycles are already not allowed such as the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. Be careful using this term unless you have done a lot of homework.

• Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) is a layer created in forest planning that shows what type of developments and experience should be expected for a given area. At one end of the spectrum, safety and comfort are emphasized. At the other end naturalness, risk and self reliance dominate. Click here to go down the ROS rabbit hole.

• A nonconforming use is a use of the land which is not allowed within a certain type of management. This phrase is often used to describe uses or development which are not usually allowed in designated Wilderness such as hang gliders, bikes or communication sites.

• Deferred Trail Maintenance is a backlog of maintenance projects.

• National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) A massive set of rules defining the process guiding land managers and the public through phases of project planning and more.

• De facto Wilderness is the concept of public lands arbitrarily managed with the same rules and restriction as Federally designated Wilderness without going through the process of Wilderness designation.

• Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is a Forest Plan or Travel Plan document that considers the alternatives and occurs before the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).

• Public comment is required by NEPA at certain stages of planning.

• Collaboration is the process of multiple people or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal.  The Forest Service is mandated to work collaboratively and take public comment during forest and travel planning.

• Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care such as natural resources or trails.

• Benign neglect is the philosophy that the best type management is to not have any human intervention or influence. 

• Wilderness character is defined in terms of five qualities: natural, solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation, undeveloped, untrammeled, and other features. These qualities can be used to determine how lands are being cared for and which are suitable for Wilderness designation.

• Ecological integrity refers to the ability of an ecosystem to support and maintain ecological processes and a diverse community of organisms.

• Adaptation tactics aim to increase resilience to climate change. It is a framework for managing future climate risk, prioritizing and coordinating action. Climate risk is being considered as a normal part of decision-making.

• Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is federal land agency and is a division of the Department of the Interior.  Many BLM lands have grazing allotments and are generally associated with the edges of valleys or lower elevation.  Traditionally, BLM lands have been more available for extractive uses, like oil and gas, to private entities leasing them from the Federal government.  

​