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FOREST SERVICE MANUAL
DENVER, CO
TITLE 4000 - RESEARCH
R2 Supplement No. 4000-92-1
Effective November 1, 1992
POSTING NOTICE. Supplements to this title are numbered consecutively. Post by
document name. Remove entire document and replace with this supplement.
Retain this transmittal as the first page of this document. The last supplement to
this Title was Supplement No. 3 to 4060.
Page Code
4060.3 through 4062.1
4063.5-4063.7
Superseded Sheets
1
1
Supplements Covered
R2 Supplement 03, 04/87
R2 Supplement 01, 03/76
Document Name
4060
Digest:
Updates material to the electronic format.
ELIZABETH ESTILL
Regional Forester
New
(Number of Pages)
5
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FSM 4000 - RESEARCH
R2 Supplement No. 4000-92-1
Effective 11/1/92
CHAPTER 4060 - RESEARCH FACILITIES AND AREAS
4060.3 - Policy. The Regional Forester, Region 2 and the Station Director, Rocky
Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station have defined the following
responsibilities and procedures which apply to the development, protection and
operation, and use of Experimental Forests and Ranges.
The Station Director is responsible for planning and executing research on
Experimental Forests and Ranges. Coordination of all activities on each
Experimental Forest or Range, and the operation of that Experimental Forest or
Range is assigned by the Station Director to a Project Leader. The Project Leader is
the responsible official for research activities on a particular Experimental Forest or
Range. The Project Leader coordinates with the Forest Supervisor those activities
involving National Forest responsibilities.
The Regional Forester has primary responsibility to protect and maintain
improvements that serve the needs of the general public. These responsibilities are
redelegated to the Forest Supervisor. Public uses are permitted to the extent that
they are compatible with research activities.
Protection of the general public from hazardous research materials is the
responsibility of the Station Director. Financing to protect and administer research
programs on Experimental Forest and Ranges is governed by Fiscal Regulations
and FSM 4082.
The Forest Supervisor shall develop a fire protection plan for the Experimental
Forest or Range in consultation with the Project Leader (FSM 4062.5). The plan
must be designed to meet both research and National Forest management
objectives established for the area.
The Unit Leader initiating a proposal for activities on Experimental Forest shall be
responsible for NEPA compliance, unless otherwise delegated in FSM 1230. For
example: If a timber sale is needed for research purposes, the Project Leader shall
be responsible for preparing environmental documents; for a special use application
not initiated by the Project Leader, the Forest Supervisor shall be responsible for
preparing the environmental document.
Non-research occupancy and special use permits on Experimental Forests and
Ranges shall be issued by the Forest Supervisor. The Project Leader must have the
opportunity to review applications for non-research occupancy and use before
permits are issued. The Forest Supervisor shall monitor special uses and take
corrective action in the event of non-compliance. Agreements involving research by
other agencies or individuals shall be issued by the Project Leader. The Forest
Supervisor must be notified of such agreements.
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4062.1 - Establishment Record. Operation of Experimental Forests and Ranges
must be carried out under the Establishment Record and a 5-year Action Plan for
each. The Action Plan must be jointly developed by the Project Leader and the
Forest Supervisor and shall be approved by the Regional Forester and Station
Director before implementation. The 5-year Action Plan must be coordinated with
the Regional Plan and the Forest Land Management Plan.
The Establishment Record shall be reviewed by the Station Director and Regional
Forester at 5-year intervals and needed changes forwarded through established
approval channels. The 5-year Action Plan provides for coordination of the research
program developments, protection, and operations. No more detail is provided in
the Action Plan that is necessary to produce a firm understanding between the
Forest Supervisor and the Project Leader. Routine road grading and drainage
requirements and short-term needs for new road construction must be provided for
in the 5-year Action Plan. The annual update of the 5-year Action Plan shall
include:
1. Actions required.
2. Time Schedule.
3. Responsibilities.
4. Resources to be used.
4063 - RESEARCH NATURAL AREAS.
4063.04 - Responsibility. A Research Natural Areas Committee for the National
Forest System lands in region 2 has been established by agreement of the Regional
Forester, Region 2 and the Director, Rocky Mountain Station. It is as follows:
R-2 - Director, Renewable Resources - Chairman
RMS - Two Station Scientists as designated by the Director.
The Committee is to maintain close liaison with the Federal Committee on
Ecological Reserves which is jointly sponsored by the National Science Foundation
and the Council on Environmental Quality.
The Committee will be responsible for (1) maintaining a list of established research
natural areas in Region 2, and making this list available to appropriate agencies
and educational institutions; (2) taking steps to encourage use of research natural
areas for long-term monitoring and development of research programs by the RM
Station, universities, or other research organizations, particularly collection of
baseline ecological and environmental data; (3) encouraging a broad array of
educational uses of research natural areas of types and intensities compatible with
other objectives and functions of the specific area.
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The Committee will take the lead in coordinating Forest Service activities with
those of other Federal agencies, State and local government, academic groups, and
private organizations concerned with natural areas, other scientific reserves and
experimental areas.
Forest Supervisors, research project leaders, and cooperating agencies and
organizations will be notified of missing vegetation or habitat types occurring or
thought to occur in this geographic area so that they can propose candidate areas.
In addition, Forest Supervisors and project leaders will be polled annually for
suggested research natural areas, and they are responsible for calling to the
attention of the Committee all possibilities that appear to meet the criteria of
needed research natural areas.
Whenever the Committee recommends an area as suitable and desirable for
establishment as a research natural area, the Forest Supervisor is responsible for
timely completion of an environmental analysis of the proposal. The area's
availability and the proposal's compatibility with the local land use plan will be a
[art of the environmental analysis.
4063.3 - Protection and Management. Research natural areas generally have a
close interrelationship with the surrounding National Forest System lands.
Because of this, research activities planned for the area must be closely coordinated
with administration of the surrounding area. To accomplish this, research project
leaders will forward all proposals for activities of research natural areas to the
responsible Forest Supervisor for review and comment prior to implementation.
4064.34 - Vegetation Management. If needed a management plan will be drawn up
and included as part of the establishment report. The unmodified features that led
to the selection as a research natural area imply that any such activity has been at
an intensity low enough in the past to prevent modification of the vegetation. The
management plan should merely insure that such activities will not be changed or
increased to a point that will cause modification of the vegetation on the site.
4063.35 - Withdrawal from Mineral Entry. Whenever a research natural area is
established, Forest Supervisors will initiate procedures for withdrawal from
mineral entry and leasing. Existing mining claims will be examined for validity
and appropriate recommendations made to adjudicate those considered to be invalid
(FSM 2861).
4063.4 - Establishment. Proposals of candidate areas should be forwarded to the
Research Natural Areas Committee for review, inspection of the area, and decision
on whether or not to recommend the area as a research natural area.
After reviewing the Committee's suitability report and approving the environmental
analysis report, the Regional Forester in coordination with the Station Director will
decide if an area should be recommended to the Chief as a research natural area. If
so, the Forest Supervisor and a research representative from the Committee will
prepare the establishment report (FSM 4063.51).
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The report will be submitted to the Research Natural Areas Committee through
administrative channels for review and transmittal to the chief for approval.
When a computerized registry in research natural areas is put into effect by the
Federal Committee, the appropriate data for all Region 2 research natural areas
will be furnished.
Records Accomplishment Reporting. The Committee will prepare and maintain a
matrix showing established prepare and maintain a matrix showing established
research natural areas versus the total recognized need.
Initially the needs portion of the matrix will be determined within the framework of
the Kuchler System used by the Federal Committee on Ecological Reserves.
However, as habitat type classification work is completed in the Region, it will be
used to help determine the number and type of research natural areas needed. In
addition to preparation of the matrix, the Committee will submit a report to the
Regional Forester and Station Director by April of each year. The report should
cover the past season's accomplishment and the anticipated effort for the
forthcoming field season.