This study used data from 42 forest management plans (FMP), registered at the IEF (Forest State Institute), from 1992 to 1998, aiming to perform a documental analysis employing easy to use sustainability indicators and verifiers, pertaining to the basic structure of a management plan, according to the state of Minas Gerais legal rules. Thus, all the FMP-related procedures were standardized, based on the state legal requirements, from which the checklist originated as well as the indicators and verifiers used in the FMP documental analysis. It was verified that the absence of a basic guide for the elaboration of the FMPs hinders the previous documental analyses of the institutional registration. Institutional deficiencies were detected in the documental and technical analyses of the management plans. The FMP items presenting the lowest execution percentage required greater technical knowledge (environmental impact, forestry system and references). The FMP items presenting the greatest execution percentage were descriptive and required less technical knowledge (objectives and justifications, general information and property area delimitation). The indicators and verifiers used were efficient and easy to use in the documental and technical analyses of the management plans studied. The previous documental analysis supported by a basic guide, carried out in this study disapproved all the management plans. It is necessary to standardize and compute the procedures of the documental and technical analyses for management plan approval. Forest exploitation level, in basal area, of all the management plans analyzed surpassed the maximum limit of intervention allowed by law.
Documental analysis; forest management plan; semi-deciduous seasonal forests
