What You Can Do
If you live in any of the counties surrounding the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton National Forests, call your county commissioners to talk to them about your vision for the forests. If you belong to any user groups—bike associations, ski clubs, etc.—consider submitting comments both as a group and individually. You can also contact the forest planners to ask if your group may make a presentation at a cooperators work group meeting. Or you can contact us and we’ll let you know about ways to participate.

Contact Information:
• Bridger-Teton National Forest planner, Rick Fox: hsfox@fs.fed.us
• Shoshone National Forest planner, Bryan Armel: barmel@fs.fed.us
• Wyoming Outdoor Council director of national parks and forests, Lisa McGee: lisa@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org

The new forest planning rule puts an emphasis on public involvement and collaboration. To this end, both the Shoshone and the Bridger-Teton National Forests have held a number of public meetings and workshops over the past year. In addition, the forests have established Government Cooperators Work Groups that meet regularly to discuss the forest plans.

Comprised of representatives from the state including the Governor's Planning Office, the Game and Fish Department, the State Forestry Division, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Environmental Quality, and local conservation districts, as well as other federal agencies and county commissioners, the cooperators are intended to represent a broad spectrum of stakeholder constituencies through elected officials and their full-time staff appointees.

"You get a diverse spread of viewpoints at the cooperators' meetings," says Randy Williams, the executive director of the Teton Conservation District who serves on both the Bridger-Teton and the Shoshone cooperators groups. "From my perspective, this is a good thing. It brings balance.

"I believe this is a proactive kind of program. We are trying to figure out how to bring all the stakeholders together as one big group where we can work together in an effective way," Williams continues.

Most of the cooperating groups come to the table with a specific agenda or mandate dictating the nature of their input: Conservation districts are focused on soil, water and agricultural interests; Game and Fish representatives look out for habitat, wildlife and fisheries; the State Department of Agriculture watches out for grazing permittees.

"My role is restricted to fish and wildlife," says Kevin Johnson, a fisheries biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in Lander. "We try to minimize damage to water and habitat loss. I don't know how the county commissioners weigh in and decide their positions."

BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST TIMELINE
• Summer-Fall 2006: Desired conditions framework, monitoring program, and evaluation process determined. Collaborative workshops to solicit public input.
• Spring-Fall 2007: Proposed forest plan developed.
• December 21, 2007: Proposed revised plan released, 90-day public comment period begins.
• June 2008: Plan finalized, followed by 30-day objection period.

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"I'm looking to bring the views of ag to the table," says Matt Hoobler, a senior policy analyst with the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. "Instead of just planning on an ecological basis, I can represent social, economic, community and overall ag industry concerns. The bottom line is I represent grazers to make sure they have a voice in the planning."

The stakeholder system guarantees a voice for many constituencies, but others are less clearly represented. For example, conservation, outfitting and recreation groups-groups that are not a part of local government or state agencies-do not have a formal seat on the cooperators' work groups. The input of these groups is either filtered through members of the cooperating groups who theoretically represent them as elected officials, or comes through their voluntary participation in the public process. On paper, these two avenues for providing input will be weighed evenly. But some, like Liz Howell of the Wyoming Wilderness Association, are skeptical.

"It seems to me as if this process is giving a lot of power to the Government Cooperators Work Group," Howell says. "And they represent the most conservative elements in the state."

SHOSHONE NATIONAL FOREST TIMELINE
• June 2006: Draft desired conditions package available for review. Comments accepted until August 9.
• Sept. 2006-March 2007: Public meetings to develop other plan components.
• Spring 2007: Draft plan released followed by 90-day comment period.
• Spring 2008: Final plan issued, followed by 30-day objection period.
• Sept. 2008: Plan approval.

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To date, the cooperating group meetings have been cordial. But so far, the topics have been uncontroversial.

"Everyone can agree to a healthy environment, clean water, good fish populations, and blue skies. Who isn't going to support that? It's like motherhood and apple pie," says Kevin Hurley, a wildlife biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "But good fish populations cannot have sedimentation. Where does sedimentation come from? Road building, prescribed burns.... That's where the potential conflict can come in. When we start talking about those details, the ride is going to get interesting."

Neither forest is holding any public meetings over the summer. In September 2006, the details of both forest plans will begin to be hammered out. According to Bryan Armel, the Shoshone forest planner, this fall is when they will pull out the maps and try to figure out what areas will be managed for which conditions. That's when the fact that you agree in principle with motherhood and apple pie, but prefer banana cream pie, will make all the difference.