Natural Resource Management: Opportunities Exist to Enhance Federal Participation in Collaborative Efforts to Reduce Conflicts and Improve Natural Resource Conditions

CEQ and the other departments involved in cooperative conservation signed an MOU in January 2009 to create a framework for collaborative resource management. We consider this action to fulfill the intent of our recommendation.

CEQ has undertaken efforts to disseminate information and tools for participation in collaborative efforts at both the agency head and federal land manager levels. First, CEQ and OMB expect to finalize a joint memorandum in September 2012 that will encourage agencies to focus on up-front collaboration. According to CEQ, this memorandum will supplement a 2005 memorandum that included tools for agencies to assess the value and appropriateness for an agency to collaborate and determine whether to engage in collaborative efforts. The memorandum will be disseminated among the heads of all federal agencies. Second, under the current administration, CEQ's efforts to support collaborative resource management have shifted from the Cooperative Conservation Initiative to the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. As a part of this initiative, CEQ organized the March 2012 White House Conference on Conservation that provided a forum for discussion and dissemination of information on how to create and sustain successful collaborative efforts. Participants of this conference included federal land managers. Through these efforts, CEQ has disseminated information to help federal agencies determine their involvement in collaborative efforts and has fulfilled the intent of this recommendation.

Under the current administration, CEQ's efforts to support collaborative resource management have shifted from the Cooperative Conservation Initiative to the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. Through this initiative, CEQ collaborated with the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 to sponsor 51 public listening sessions across the country about conservation, including ways in which the federal government could be a more effective conservation partner. To follow up on these conversations, CEQ organized a White House Conference on Conservation in March 2012, which highlighted community-driven collaborative efforts across the country and discussed how to build upon their success. The conference brought together a wide range of stakeholders including ranchers, recreationists, local governments, land conservationists, and land managers to share their experiences and discuss their concerns on a variety of conservation, recreation, and natural resource topics. We consider these actions to fulfill the intent of our recommendation.

Two governmentwide efforts undertaken by the Executive Branch will ensure greater consistency between Interior's and USDA's policies regarding their employees' participation in nonprofit organizations that are collaborative groups, according to officials from the Department of the Interior and USDA. The efforts include an Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum providing guidance to department and agency heads to remove barriers to employees participating in outside organizations, and a proposed rule from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) that would permit government employees to participate fully in nonprofit organizations in an official capacity. Both Interior and USDA have developed departmental guidance to implement the OSTP memo and officials said that they plan to use the permission created in the OGE rule, once it is final, to allow their employees to participate in nonprofit boards.

Two governmentwide efforts undertaken by the Executive Branch will ensure more consistency between Interior's and USDA's policies regarding employees' participation in nonprofit groups that are collaborative groups, according to officials from the Department of the Interior and USDA. The efforts include an Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum providing guidance to department and agency heads to remove barriers to employees participating in outside organizations, and a proposed rule from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) that would permit government employees to participate fully in nonprofit organizations in an official capacity. Both Interior and USDA have developed departmental guidance to implement the OSTP memo and officials said that they plan to use the permission created in the OGE rule, once it is final, to allow their employees to participate in nonprofit groups as a member of the board.