Stop fast-tracked burning on Manti-La Sal National Forest
Manti-La Sal National Forest Vegetation Resiliency Project Environmental Assessment
U.S. Forest Service· Manti-La Sal National ForestU.S. Forest Service project page ↗
Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
The groups on this fight
4 groups work Colorado
By footprint, from the same match the STAND matchmaker runs; none is linked to this decision in our record yet. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Center for Biological Diversity
Works Colorado: led the coalition suit against the Uinta Basin Railway, whose oil trains would run the river corridors below the monument.
- Rocky Mountain Wild
Works 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
Works 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..
- WildEarth Guardians
Works Colorado: named petitioner against the Uinta Basin Railway over habitat destruction in the basin.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
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.
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.
Did the agency answer?
The decision responded to 1 of the 1 issue raised on this record (1 only in part).
Issues on the record, checked against the decision
- Partially respondedThe 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 Effe
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, quote verified against the document
“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, National Historic Preservation Act – Section 106 Review · read by the harvest engine, excerpt verified against the document
Decision notice: August 2026 MLNF Resiliency Project EA & FONSI ↗
The reporting behind this
From More Than Just ParksAfter more than a decade chasing peak color across America, we built the foliage map we always wanted.
Another foreign mining company wants a piece of America’s public lands. This one comes with millions of gallons of groundwater pumping and radioactive radon.
Five departments gutted their environmental review rules in one day, without taking comment on the rules that shrink your comment. More than a million Americans have objected since. Nothing has change
More actions that need you
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