BLM Desk Guide to Cooperating Agency Relationships - National ...

Director’s MessageThe Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has led the way in establishing a culture ofcooperation, collaboration, and partnership in its land use planning process by promulgatingregulations that establish a consistent role for cooperating agencies. State and fi eldoffi ces are required to engage their government partners consistently and effectively in thepreparation or revision of land use plans. In 2008 the Department of the Interior broadenedits regulations to require every Interior agency to offer cooperating agency status to all eligibleintergovernmental partners for all environmental impact statements. The Department alsoindicated that cooperating agency procedures could be used to support efforts conducted underenvironmental assessments. We believe that by working closely with our State, local, tribal, andFederal government partners, we improve communication and understanding, identify commongoals and objectives, and enhance the quality of our management of the public lands. Theseregulations demonstrate the strong commitment to recognizing the vital role that Federal, State,local, and tribal government partners play in ensuring effective and durable land managementdecisions.A Desk Guide to Cooperating Agency Relationships, fi rst published in 2005, is a “how to”publication that all BLM managers and staff have been required to put into practice. The Guidehas helped to shape our collaborative efforts with State, local, and tribal governments and otherFederal agencies to recognize common goals and achieve balanced approaches to multipleuse management across the public lands. Since the BLM’s implementation of the Guide wehave completed more than 60 resource management plans and have engaged more than 300intergovernmental partners at the Federal, State, local, and tribal levels. We have been able toincorporate the sound advice and recommendations of these government partners to create andimplement successful land use plans.We have updated the original Guide to refl ect policy changes in how we deal with thecooperating agency relationship, to incorporate what we have learned from our cooperatingagency experiences, to clarify how cooperating agency status differs from efforts to improvecoordination, and to include updated language and references from the Department ofthe Interior’s revised regulations and policies. We have also renamed it “A Desk Guideto Cooperating Agency Relationships and Coordination with Intergovernmental Partners.”This name change refl ects our commitment to working with Federal, State, local, and tribalgovernment partners and coordinating on a variety of activities on an ongoing basis. Throughthis expansion of our cooperative efforts, it is my hope that we enter a new era of public landmanagement that furthers our ultimate goal of managing public lands and resources for thegreatest good for all Americans.BLM • A Desk Guide to Cooperating Agency Relationships and Coordination with Intergovernmental Partners • 2012Director, Bureau of Land Managementvii