One month left to comment on the draft 2010 National Report on Sustainable Forests

The Draft National Report on Sustainable Forests-2010 describes the state of forests in the U.S. and the indicators of national progress toward the goal of sustainable forest management. The public comment period closes on April 10. To submit input, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/research/sustain/2010SustainabilityReport/comment.shtml and use the web form, or email comments to 2010sustainabilityreport@fs.fed.us.

The Forest Service is interested in comments on any and all aspects of the draft, however, the areas listed below are of particular interest. If you have a specific interest or area of technical expertise, you can focus your comments on one or more of the 64 indicator summaries included in the document.

• Interpretation of the data. The delivery of data in a clear and easily understandable fashion is a central goal of the document, but the FS is also seeking input about how far they should go in providing interpretation of the data in terms of progress towards forest sustainability. What strategies would you suggest for presenting syntheses and interpretations in the document or in a companion document? Should they, for example, attempt to score individual indicators as they relate to Forest Sustainability?

• Overall organization of the report. Does the overall organization of the document make sense and can you quickly find the information you need? Do you have suggestions as to how to make the document more "user friendly"?

• Concept of sustainability and examples of using the C&I. Does the background information and discussion of the concept of sustainability in Chapter 1 adequately lay the foundation for understanding the rest of the document? And do the examples of using the C&I in the US demonstrate the utility of the C&I to advance sustainable forest management in the US?

• Key findings. How can the summary of key findings in Chapter 3 be improved?

• Policy-related actions. Are the policy suggestions included in Chapter 5 the right ones? Are there other actions that you would suggest?