Chapter 47 - Western Oregon Districts, Bureau of Land Management, United States of America

Abstract

The Oregon Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) revised its Western Oregon Districts’ Resource Management Plans (RMPs) in 2008 to reflect a growing divergence in planned outcomes from the RMPs that were tied to the 1990s-era Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP). The new plans were completed under the title: The Western Oregon Plan Revisions. The plan revisions were initiated partially in response to a settlement agreement in a long-standing lawsuit filed by the timber industry and western Oregon counties. The BLM developed the plans with cooperating agencies including representatives from a tribe, counties, state, and other federal agencies. The RMPs used knowledge gained from years of monitoring implementation of the NWFP resulting in a robust array of spatial resource data used to drive science-based analytical models in a “data-driven” planning process. Using the Federal Land Policy and Management Act’s land-use planning processes and associated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses to resolve an issue with deep-seated polarized positions is not automatic and can fail without consistent support of political and agency leadership. The current structure of federal laws puts agencies trying to implement their various laws and direction at odds with one another. A clearer understanding of how the various agencies’ mandates interact with one another may help with interagency collaboration under the NEPA processes. If land management plans are to be tied to Endangered Species Act recovery plans, both need to be managed as dependent, interrelated efforts. The failure of one affects the other. The success of both is required.