Tonto National Forest

This document summarizes relevant issues for analysis that were identified during the scoping process for the project. The purpose of the scoping process is to provide agencies, members of the public, and members of the internal interdisciplinary (ID) team with an opportunity to provide input on the scope of the proposed project and analysis of relevant issues in the environmental impact statement.

One of the first steps in the preparation of an EIS is to understand the issues that should be considered while preparing the document. These issues will define the scope of both the alternatives that will be considered and the analysis that will need to be conducted. For this reason, the process of discovering these issues is called “Scoping” and is a process that involves asking the public, stakeholders, tribes, cooperating agencies, and Forest specialists to help identify the most important issues to be analyzed.

Numerous individuals and several organizations requested an extension of the public scoping period, as well as additional public scoping meetings. The TNF Forest Supervisor has decided to accommodate these requests by extending the public scoping period through July 18, 2016 and holding one additional public scoping meeting on June 9, 2016.

Notes taken of Question and Answer sessions of series of public scoping meetings held in March and April 2016. Public members were able to ask questions of the Forest Service staff on the project or about the NEPA and scoping process.