The Giant Sequoia National Monument Management Plan Public Comment Portal Opened This Week

A new way to provide public comments became available this week with the opening of an innovative online Public Comment Portal—at http://gsnm-consult.limehouse.com/portal . The Giant Sequoia National Forest is pilot-testing the portal to gather input on the development of a new Giant Sequoia National Monument Management Plan.

The user-friendly portal currently contains:

            - The original proclamation establishing the Giant Sequoia National Monument.

            - The decision framework, outlining the tensions among desired conditions, overarching legal

              requirements, and practical constraints

            - The scoping letter detailing the scope of the analysis for the plan;

The scope of the analysis will be available for public comments for 45 days following the date of publication of the Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register.

From any computer with Internet access, people can draft and submit comments, access dynamic features such as interactive maps, and receive automatic notification when new materials are posted. Users also can save and share links with friends or online networks. Online help and a Guided Tour provide easy-to-follow instructions.

"This portal is an exciting new way to communicate and collaborate with members of the scientific community, the public, and other stakeholders," said Giant Sequoia National Forest Supervisor Tina Terrell, who narrates a video greeting on the portal site.

The Public Comment Portal is the newest tool in the GSNM public involvement kit, but all the traditional tools—calls, letters, emails, and meetings—are still available for the GSNM Management Plan effort.

New documents and up-to-date information about public meetings and other events will be posted to the portal as they become available. The draft environmental impact statement is expected in September 2009, and the final environmental impact statement and decision are expected in 2010.

The portal uses a Web-based software service provided by Limehouse Software™ under a pilot project sponsored by Giant Sequoia National Forest and the Washington Office Ecosystem Management Coordination (EMC)/Publishing Arts group (see FS Today January 23). The Limehouse system is also expected to streamline comment analysis and to expedite writing, publishing, and updating materials.

View the press release: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sequoia/news/releases/2009/03/gsnm-plan.html