"Foundation document" drafted for Lake Roosevelt

The National Park Service is in the process of preparing a “foundation document” for planning and management of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. 

A foundation document, the NPS says, reaffirms a National Park unit’s core mission and significance, most important resources and values, and the interpretive themes that tell the park’s important stories.

Such a document allows the NPS “to integrate and coordinate all kinds and levels of planning from a single, shared understanding of what is most important about the park,” a press release stated Monday.

The process of developing a foundation document begins with gathering and integrating information about the park. Next, this information is refined and focused to identify the most important attributes of the park. The process of preparing a foundation document aids park managers, staff, and the public in identifying and clearly stating in one document the essential information that is necessary for park management to consider when determining future planning efforts, outlining key planning issues, and protecting resources and values that are integral to park purpose and identity.

The document is “not a decision making tool,” the NPS says, so it is not subject to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures. But it “will support future decision making processes” at the park, the press release says.

“However given general interest we are making the draft foundation document available for review,” the release stated.

The Draft Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area Foundation Document has been posted to the park website at: http://www.nps.gov/laro/getinvolved/planning.htm.

Those interested may send or drop off comments at park headquarters: Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, 1008 Crest Drive, Coulee Dam, WA 99116 or send an email to LARO_Superintendent@nps.gov, preferably by April 29.