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Ecosystem Planning: Northwest Forest and Interior Columbia River Basin Plans Demonstrate Improvements in Land-Use Planning

RCED-99-64 Published: May 26, 1999. Publicly Released: May 26, 1999.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Forest Service's and the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) efforts to implement two ecosystem-based studies--the Northwest Forest Plan and the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project, focusing on: (1) the extent to which each effort has addressed long-standing planning deficiencies; (2) whether the agencies encountered the delays and significant costs that have been characteristic of previous planning efforts; and (3) the effect that the plans have had, or are expected to have, on the quantity and quality of timber sold from federal lands covered by the plans.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior should provide additional direction to the interagency team responsible for developing the plan for managing federal lands in the interior Columbia River basin. Specifically, the Secretaries should direct that in revising the draft plan to focus on those issues that are appropriately addressed basinwide, the team should: (1) identify the ecological and socioeconomic trade-offs among the different land management alternatives proposed to address basinwide issues, including the likely effects of those alternatives on outputs such as timber across federal land units within the basin; (2) provide land managers with clear direction for implementation along with performance standards for holding them accountable; and (3) make basinwide management decisions and estimates for outputs such as timber taking full account of existing environmental laws and regulations, budgetary constraints, and other variables.
Closed – Implemented
The interagency team responsible for developing the plan revised it to (1) discuss both the environmental consequences and social and economic considerations of redesigned and refocused management alternatives, (2) include numerous changes to improve the clarity and intent of the management direction, (3) identify implementation costs as well as the expected impacts on products and services, and (4) integrate the plan with other plans focused on smaller geographic areas.
Department of the Interior The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior should provide additional direction to the interagency team responsible for developing the plan for managing federal lands in the interior Columbia River basin. Specifically, the Secretaries should direct that in revising the draft plan to focus on those issues that are appropriately addressed basinwide, the team should: (1) identify the ecological and socioeconomic trade-offs among the different land management alternatives proposed to address basinwide issues, including the likely effects of those alternatives on outputs such as timber across federal land units within the basin; (2) provide land managers with clear direction for implementation along with performance standards for holding them accountable; and (3) make basinwide management decisions and estimates for outputs such as timber taking full account of existing environmental laws and regulations, budgetary constraints, and other variables.
Closed – Implemented
The interagency team responsible for developing the plan revised it to (1) discuss both the environmental consequences and social and economic considerations of redesigned and refocused management alternatives, (2) include numerous changes to improve the clarity and intent of the management direction, (3) identify implementation costs as well as the expected impacts on products and services, and (4) integrate the plan with other plans focused on smaller geographic areas.
Department of the Interior Given that the agencies intend the interior Columbia River basin plan to make management decisions for a limited number of basinwide issues and that additional management plans focused on smaller geographic scales will therefore be needed to provide additional management direction, the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior should direct the interagency team to prepare for Congress and the public details on how the additional plans will be integrated with the interior Columbia River basin plan and to estimate the time and resources that will be needed.
Closed – Implemented
The interagency team responsible for developing the plan redesigned and refocused its alternatives for managing federal lands in the basin. Among other things, the revised plan clarified the management intent for "step-down" analysis in which basin wide scientific findings and management direction are applied to site-specific activities and risks to resources are addressed at the appropriate ecological scale.
Department of Agriculture Given that the agencies intend the interior Columbia River basin plan to make management decisions for a limited number of basinwide issues and that additional management plans focused on smaller geographic scales will therefore be needed to provide additional management direction, the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior should direct the interagency team to prepare for Congress and the public details on how the additional plans will be integrated with the interior Columbia River basin plan and to estimate the time and resources that will be needed.
Closed – Implemented
The interagency team responsible for developing the plan redesigned and refocused its alternatives for managing federal lands in the basin. Among other things, the revised plan clarified the management intent for "step-down" analysis in which basin wide scientific findings and management direction are applied to site-specific activities and risks to resources are addressed at the appropriate ecological scale.

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Topics

Cost overrunsEcosystem managementEnvironmental monitoringEnvironmental policiesForest managementInteragency relationsLand managementSchedule slippagesStrategic planningTimber salesWildlife conservationLand use