Practical Social Assessments For National Forest Planning PDF Download

A social and economic profile is a key element of a social assessment. A social and economic assessment or profile is used by line officers, planning staff social scientists, and others to inform both forest planning activities and project-level work. It is important to discover how planning and management decisions made by National Forest System staff will affect social and economic conditions in communities surrounding the forest. Since the writing of this technical guide, the 2005 Planning Rule 36 CFR 219.6 has been released. The new rule again requires that social assessments (evaluations) be done as part of plan activities. Page 41 of the rule, which addresses evaluations and documentation, specifies that the plan document or set of documents will include reports on current social and economic conditions and trends. These evaluation reports are expected for all plan revisions and must be made available to the public.