Forest Service Policies and Procedures

The Forest Service directive system (FSDS) provides the foundation for internal management control of all programs and is the source of administrative direction to all Forest Service staffers. The system organizes the agencys policies, procedures, and practices in the Forest Service Manual (FSM) and the Forest Service Handbook (FSH) (USDA Forest Service 2000). The manual provides the legal authorities, objectives, policies, responsibilities and guidance that are needed on a continuing basis. The handbook, on the other hand, is the source of specialized guidance and instruction on how to carry out the directives. In general, the policies and guidance provided in the FSM are more significant than those given in the FSH. An examination of these procedures is warranted to determine potential constraints to improving management for NTFPs.

The directive system is organized by institutional function, each of which has a designated series code. For example, series 3000 deals with state and private forestry, series 4000 is designated for research, and series 2000 deals with National Forest resource management. The 2000 series provides direction on management of natural resources on the national forests. Within each series, directives are further organized by management objective. For example, series 2100 provides direction on environmental management issues, series 2200 deals with range management, series 2300 provides guidance on recreation and series 2400 covers timber management. Each series is further subdivided to present direction on specific issues. For example, 2430 deals with commercial timber sales. The system provides access to the vast array of diverse and complex directives covering a range of issues.

A computerized search of the Forest Service directive system revealed nine service-wide and field issuances that deal with NTFPs. (Table: National Level Direction from the Forest Service Manual (FSM) and Handbook (FSH) concerning NTFPs) The previous table summarizes the three service-wide issuances entered into the manual, and two service-wide amendments to the handbook concerning NTFPs. (Table: Regional Direction) summarizes the four field issuances from the southern region (Region 8) that have been entered into the directive system concerning NTFPs since 1994.

References

• Additional NTFP References