[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 36, Volume 2]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 36CFR219.24]

[Page 51]
 
              TITLE 36--PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
 
          CHAPTER II--FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 219--PLANNING--Table of Contents
 
 Subpart A--National Forest System Land and Resource Management Planning
 
Sec. 219.24  Science consistency evaluations.

    (a) The responsible official must ensure that plan amendments and 
revisions are consistent with the best available science. The 
responsible official may use a science advisory board (Sec. 219.25) to 
assist in determining whether information gathered, evaluations 
conducted, or analyses and conclusions reached in the planning process 
are consistent with the best available science. If the responsible 
official decides to use a science advisory board, the board and the 
responsible official are to jointly establish criteria for the science 
advisory board and the responsible official to use in reviewing the 
consistency of proposed plan amendments and revisions with the best 
available science.
    (b) The science advisory board is responsible for organizing and 
conducting a scientific consistency evaluation to determine the 
following:
    (1) If relevant scientific (ecological, social, or economic) 
information has been considered by the responsible official in a manner 
consistent with current scientific understanding at the appropriate 
scales;
    (2) If uncertainty of knowledge has been recognized, acknowledged, 
and adequately documented; and
    (3) If the level of risk in achievement of sustainability is 
acknowledged and adequately documented by the responsible official.
    (c) If substantial disagreement among members of the science 
advisory board or between the science advisory board and the responsible 
official is identified during a science consistency evaluation, a 
summary of such disagreement should be noted in the appropriate 
environmental documentation within Forest Service NEPA procedures.