How do I submit a public comment on Manti-La Sal National Forest Vegetation Resiliency Environmental Assessment?

The public comment window for this decision closed on August 4, 2026. The record of what was at stake stays on this page.

When is the public comment deadline for Manti-La Sal National Forest Vegetation Resiliency Environmental Assessment?

The comment window closed on August 4, 2026.

Do public comments actually change federal decisions?

Yes, when they are substantive. Agencies are legally required to read and respond to substantive comments before finalizing a rule, and specific personal comments about real places and real uses carry far more weight than identical form letters. Courts have overturned rules when agencies ignored substantive comments.

Stop fast-tracked burning on Manti-La Sal National Forest

What the proposal said, and what the decision did

Inventoried Roadless Area acres open to burning
Special Management Areas ↗
Proposed
approximately 472,100
Decided
approximately 472,100, acres
Yearly ceiling on prescribed burn acres
Proposed Action: What are we proposing to do? ↗
Proposed
up to 24,014 acres per year
Decided
up to 24,014 acres per year

Unreviewed · Source: Decision notice, August 2026 MLNF Resiliency Project EA & FONSI ↗

Did the agency answer?

PLAN found 1 issue in the agency’s analysis.

Each issue against the decision, unreviewed

PLAN’s match, not yet checked by a personThe EA defers all site-specific cultural resource surveys, effect determinations, and Tribal consultation to future burn-plan phases, yet it already declares a programmatic finding of 'No Adverse Effect' to historic properties across more than 983,000 acres containing over 2,000 known cultural resources.
The EA defers all site-specific cultural resource surveys, effect determinations, and Tribal consultation to future burn-plan phases, yet it already declares a programmatic finding of 'No Adverse Effect' to historic properties across more than 983,000 acres containing over 2,000 known cultural resources.
The Section 106 consultation with the Utah SHPO was completed in one week (letters March 12, concurrence March 19, 2026), and the EA acknowledges that each phase of compliance 'could take on average 1 to 5 years to complete.' Issuing a decision before that work is done means the public and Tribes cannot meaningfully comment on actual effects. The agency should suspend implementation until phased Section 106 surveys and government-to-government Tribal consultation are substantially complete for at least the first year of burn units, and should extend the public comment period accordingly.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own analysis
“The MLNF sent letters dated March 12 and 13, 2026 to Tribes regarding the phased approach to Section 106 compliance and a determination of No Adverse Effects to historic properties. The Navajo Nation responded via email on March 23, 2026 with no cultural resource concerns.”
The agency’s own words, August 2026 MLNF Resiliency Project EA & FONSI ↗, National Historic Preservation Act – Section 106 Review · PLAN’s match, unchecked, an answer in part

Decision notice: August 2026 MLNF Resiliency Project EA & FONSI ↗

Affects public lands

PLAN’s own label for this notice, read from the official notice ↗.

A 2025 emergency designation removes your right to formally object before this large-scale burn plan is approved.

What’s at risk

Public oversight of landscape-scale prescribed burning across the Manti-La Sal National Forest is at risk. The normal pre-decisional objection process has been stripped away under an emergency designation covering over 112 million acres of National Forest land.

If this goes through

The project moves forward without standard public objection rights, and you lose your standing in any future administrative review unless you submit comments now.

Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.

The agency’s own analysis

What the notice says, and what it leaves out

The window has closed; the record of what was missing stays.

National Historic Preservation Act – Section 106 Review ↗
The agency says
“Section 106 compliance for each phase could take on average 1-5 years to complete and project activities should be planned accordingly.”
The EA defers all site-specific cultural resource surveys, effect determinations, and Tribal consultation to future burn-plan phases, yet it already declares a programmatic finding of 'No Adverse Effect' to historic properties across more than 983,000 acres containing over 2,000 known cultural resources.

In the agency’s own words

The Manti-La Sal National Forest is proposing to use a landscape-scale prescribed fire approach to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfires, increase resilience of existing vegetation groups, and improve ecological function in native vegetation communities and wildlife habitat.

Forest Service project page ↗

The groups on this fight

4 groups predicted likely to care in Colorado and Utah

Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in Colorado and Utah, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.

Grand Staircase Escalante Partners
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah: The monument’s friends group: Science, stewardship, and the legal fight over its boundaries.
Rocky Mountain Wild
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Colorado BLM Lease Sale, Colorado: Joined the formal challenge to the January 2026 replacement lease sale and previously sued BLM over the Roan Plateau leases.
San Juan Citizens Alliance
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado: Shaped the 2010 management plan, has fought oil and gas leasing decisions inside the monument for two decades, mobilized against the 2017 monument review, and states it continues to defend CANM.
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Green River (Flaming Gorge to Colorado), Utah: Sued BLM in August 2024 to void 51 reaffirmed oil and gas leases in the San Rafael Desert, including one in the heart of the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness carved by the Green River.

Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.

Who signs it

PLAN hasn’t read a signer into its record for this fight. The decision on file carries the signature: August 2026 MLNF Resiliency Project EA & FONSI ↗.

The ground

The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.

In court on this ground

One court case is over Manti-La Sal National Forest, newest first.

Docket closed · filed May 7, 2019
Utah Native Plant Society v. U.S. Forest Service
The court closed the docket. We don’t hold its entries yet.

Who holds the vote

PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.

See how your members vote ↗

Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.

Filed underWildfire Prescribed Fire Fuels Management Environmental review Wildlife Emergency Authority

Know an open comment period we are missing, or spotted a wrong deadline? .

Stop fast-tracked burning on Manti-La Sal National Forest

What the proposal said, and what the decision did

Did the agency answer?

What the notice says, and what it leaves out

In the agency’s own words

4 groups predicted likely to care in Colorado and Utah

More fights that need you

Go deeper, free

See how your members of Congress vote on public lands

See the places under active threat