Public Participation
We have developed a strategy for how we work with
various groups (both government and private) during the land management
plan revision process. However, situations will come up where
we want to make changes, so our strategy is intended to be dynamic
and will be adapted as the planning progresses. 
Everyone who is interested in the land management
plan or who will be affected by it is encouraged to participate.
Join us at any of our Collaborative
Events
Click
here for information about past Community Collaborative Workshops
and Field Trips
Public involvement is a very important part of
national forest management decision-making process throughout
the planning cycle—from developing, amending, or revising
land management plans, to proposing and developing projects. The
value of public participation in decision-making is recognized
in both the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (for more information about NEPA
and NFMA, visit www.fs.fed.us/emc/nepa/).
Public participation in land management plan revisions
adds value to the entire process and helps promote better decisions
and greater understanding of those decisions.
What is your role?
Public participation is critical to all stages
of the land management planning process. We believe that land
management plans generated with the support of the public are
more likely to endure the test of time.
During the revision process, we are depending on
the public to learn additional information about the four national
forests being affected, to understand your values and ideas on
how the area should be managed, and to provide feedback on proposals
from us and other individuals and organizations.
Your ideas and views are particularly important
in the initial stages as your comments may generate or convey
new information that leads to creating better products. Having
this information early, allows us to keep moving forward rather
than having to review and change previous work. New information
can come in many forms—including community priorities, focused
on the conservation of sensitive plant and animal species, recreation
opportunities, grazing, restoring fire-adapted ecosystems, or
other interests.
How can you participate in Land Management Plan revision?
Land management plan revision involves a series
of incremental decisions that can take several years to complete.
These incremental decisions include what the scope of the proposal
will be, what issues are important, what management options need
to be weighed against each other, how the effects of proposals
can be best analyzed, and what data needs to be collected to inform
that analysis. All of these decisions contribute to the overall
decision to approve the revised Land Management Plan. Public participation
is vital to public land management planning throughout all of
these steps.
Two Phases of Public Participation for the Blue
Mountains Land Management Plan Revision
Working with the public during plan revision can
be seen as occurring in two phases:
Phase I: Public Participation / Pre-NEPA
- the phase leading up to the proposed plan, and;
Phase II: Public Involvement / the
“NEPA Process” - the phase after the
proposed plan is issued that leads to a decision establishing
the new plans.
While you are welcome and encouraged to participate
throughout plan revision, there are procedural differences between
how you can participate before and after the proposed plan is issued
(in other words, before and after the “NEPA process”
begins).
Blue Mountains Land
Management Plan Revision Public Participation
Public
Participation Pre-NEPA – January 2004 to Fall 2007
Collaboration
is emphasized
No
decisions are made that affect how public lands are managed
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Public
Involvement NEPA – Fall 2009 to Fall 2010
Proposed
Plans are issued
The
NEPA process begins
Leads
to a decision on the revised plans
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Phase I: Public
Participation / Pre-NEPA
Land management planning is largely structured
around the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its requirements,
but before the “NEPA process” formally begins, there
is ample opportunity for you to engage the planning team in identifying
the existing and desired conditions and identifying the things
that need to be changed in the current Plans. The procedural requirements
of NEPA do not apply in this phase of planning because no final
decisions are being made that will affect how the public lands
are being managed.
What is collaboration and when will it occur?
“Collaboration” was emphasized during the first
three years of plan revision. We think of collaboration
as co-laboring and co-creating by working with members of
the public to design processes and develop products, letting
go of controlling the result
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Collaboration (January 2004 to Winter 2006)
- to co-labor and co-create by working with members of the
public to design processes and develop products, letting
go of controlling the result.
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. 
We developed a strategy for how we will work together,
and with the help of a neutral third-party facilitator, this strategy
was refined collaboratively. Working together through a series of
workshops (click here for workshop information)
in various communities around the Blue Mountains, we have been developing
a vision for the future management of national forest lands, creating
the building blocks that will be used in the new Plans, identifying
the things in the current Plans that are not working, and crafting
proposed revised Plans.
How we are collaborating?
We want to work with everyone who is interested
in the revision of the Land Management Plans in the Blue Mountains
and who will be affected by it. As the collaboration phase began,
county governments, American Indian tribes, and resource advisory
groups were given the opportunity to be co-conveners of the process.
These groups have broad networks of contacts, represent a variety
of interests, and have demonstrated that they can build partnerships,
resolve conflicts, and solve problems.
All 18 counties within the Blue Mountains Forest
Plan Revision planning area were invited to serve as co-conveners.
Eight counties have confirmed their interest in acting as co-conveners.
Tribes and Resource Advisory Committees and Councils have also
been contacted.
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Commissioners and representatives from seven counties
meet with the Forest Service to discuss collaboration
(January 29, 2004 – La Grande, Oregon) |
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What
is a Co-convener?
- Co-conveners lead the effort to bring diverse interest
groups in their areas together.
- Co-conveners help develop a strategy for how we work
with various interest groups to revise the Plans.
- Co-conveners convene meetings, helping determine who
to invite, and when and where to hold meetings and workshops.
- Co-conveners help assimilate the information collected
at public workshops.
- Co-conveners are co-meeting managers and co-process facilitators.
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Why collaborate? |
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Collaboration
Priorities |
Collaboration with our stakeholders is extremely
important to us and to the overall success of the
plan revision effort. Working collaboratively helps
promote better decisions and greater support and public
understanding of those decisions. Collaboration allows
various views to be expressed in an open forum and
discussed by all interested parties. Differences can
be shared, values understood, and agreements made
as a group rather than one party doing a lot of work
and then having others finding fault. Collaboration
builds on the idea that none of us is as smart as
all of us. Working together we can build a better
product.
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- Participation is open to anyone who is interested
- Participants feel their involvement is meaningful
- The new Plans are useful in guiding management and
are legally defensible
- Support is built for the eventual proposal along
with a broad willingness to help implement it
- Relationships are built that are carried forward
to implementation
- Revision is completed within budget and timeline
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National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (NEPA)
This law governs process only. NEPA does not guide
what the goals, objectives, and guidelines, etc. are
for a land management plan revision. It directs all
federal agencies to consider and disclose the potential
environmental effects of proposed major federal actions
having a significant effect on the human environment,
and established the Council on Environmental Quality.
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Phase II: Public Involvement
/ the “NEPA Process”
While we want to work closely with the public and
our partners throughout the entire plan revision process,
once the formal NEPA process has begun, the agency
is bound by the procedural requirements of NEPA.
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The process can be as open during the NEPA phase
as it was in the pre-NEPA steps, as long as it remains open and
does not exclude any groups from participating; however, there
are specific steps to be included. The Federal Advisory Committee
Act (FACA) also affects how we deal with public groups.
Our strategy for working together during the formal
NEPA phase of plan revision has not yet been determined. We anticipate,
however, that the relationships resulting from the collaboration
phase (pre-NEPA) will provide the basis for determining how people
want to continue to be engaged in the more procedural requirements
associated with the NEPA process. A goal of the overall plan revision
effort in the Blue Mountains is to build a strong foundation in
the collaboration phase that provides the context for working
together through the procedural requirements of the analysis process
and ultimately to implementing the final plans.
How are decisions made?
Many decisions along the way will be made by the
three Forest Supervisors (Steve Ellis, Kevin Martin, and Stan
Benes) as well as the ultimate decision on the Revised Land Management
Plans.
You are encouraged to contribute information and
ideas to the Revision Team as they study different management
approaches and help identify impacts and implications of possible
decisions so these decision-makers have a clear presentation of
the anticipated results of their decisions.
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