April 1, 2009-- On behalf of the Southern Forest Futures Project, we invite you to read and comment on our Draft Study Plan. To ensure all comments are considered prior to beginning the analyses, we need your comments submitted by April 30.

The Plan lays out how we intend to address the issues you raised through a series of public meetings last year. We used your input to identify issues for analysis, then lined up a team of experts to address them. Through a series of workshops and conference calls the team has drafted a comprehensive Draft Project Study Plan which we now are offering for your evaluation.

The experts on the team have worked hard to lay out scientifically sound approaches to best address the questions you presented to us within the confines of the project timeline and resources. We ask you to make sure our plans meet your needs. Therefore the Team invites interested persons to review and provide feedback on the Draft. After receiving comments, the Team will finalize the plan and analysis will begin.

The Draft Study Plan contains 12 sections; each is aligned with what will be a separate chapter in the final report. Each section outlines the questions that will be addressed, analytical methods that will be employed, expected products and outputs, collaborators and cooperators, and sources of information.

You will find comment fields on each page of the Draft Study Plan. Help us match your comments to the most relevant portions of the report by submitting each comment from the web page where it is most relevant. There is a radio button to indicate when a comment is general and not specific to that page. In either case, please:

1. Be as brief and as clear as possible
2. Explain your rationale instead of simply expressing agreement or disagreement
3. Be as specific as possible when recommending additional sources of information
4. Keep your comments constructive and anonymous

All public input received to date, including a summary and analysis of those inputs, is available via our Public Input page. Comments about the Draft Study Plan will also be made available from the Public Inputs page.

We value all feedback but cannot promise to respond to or include each comment or suggestion. Rest assured, however, that each will be carefully considered before finalizing the Plan.