National Association of Counties * Washington, DC / Vol. 30, No. 8 * April 27, 1998

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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is reviewing its land planning guidance to encourage meaningful public participation and eliminate counterproductive processes.

Interim guidance will be forthcoming soon, but before it becomes active the effort will be discussed in workshop sessions at NACo's upcoming Western Interstate Region (WIR) Conference in Juneau, Alaska (May 20-23). BLM hopes that NACo and its affiliates will actively participate in identifying ways to improve BLM's planning process.

Why is this necessary?

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 articulated a new federal policy to retain public lands for multiple use management and repealed many obsolete public land laws that had hindered effective planning for public lands.

A key goal of FLPMA was to provide the public with an opportunity to participate in public land management decisions. The primary mechanism BLM uses to involve the public is its land use planning process.

FLPMA provides sufficient flexibility for BLM to adapt management to meet new land-use challenges. It also enables the agency to take advantage of the most up-to-date technology and information available.

However, the planning processes adopted over the decades to implement FLPMA have, in some instances, not kept up with changes. BLM recognizes that natural resource values and social and economic considerations extend beyond administrative boundaries. This recognition has inspired land managers to adopt ecosystem-based approaches to management. The issues, as well as the analytical tools for resolving them, are no longer limited to the predetermined geographic areas or the program-specific direction of the past.

It is hoped that with NACo's help and the input of county officials across the country, BLM can develop a set of planning guides and principles that will "demystify" the arcane planning efforts required by current practice and improve the ability of county officials and the general public to meaningfully participate in the planning process.

(Malka Pattison is a Bureau of Land Management economist in Washington, DC.)