INTERIOR COLUMBIA BASIN ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT PROJECT

At the direction of President Clinton in July 1993, the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (Project) was initiated by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to respond to several broad scale issues including, but not limited to, forest and rangeland health, the listing of Snake River salmon, bull trout protection, economies of local communities, species associated with old forest structure, and treaty and trust responsibilities to American Indian Tribes. The project area encompasses 24 percent of the National Forest System lands and 10 percent of the public lands administered by the BLM in the nation.

A Scientific Assessment characterizing current ecosystem conditions in the project area and evaluating new information about the primary issues driving the overall need for the project and other issues was completed. Two Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) outlining seven ecosystem management alternatives that respond to issues and needs, and replace, where appropriate, interim conservation strategies in up to 74 land and resource management plans in the project are also being developed. Numerous public meetings have been an integral part of the involvement process in the production of both the Scientific Assessment and the EISs.

PURPOSE

• Address broad resource issues that transcend federal administrative boundaries, using an interagency approach.
• Use a scientifically sound, ecosystem-based approach to incorporate interrelated actions and effects. Incorporate these into integrated federal land management strategies.
• Be cost effective by addressing issues in a larger context, rather than individual efforts on each administrative unit.
• Provide an open public process for obtaining ongoing input from state, county, and Tribal governments, various groups and organizations with high interest in public land management, as well as the general public.
• Respond to President Clinton's July 1993 direction to develop an ecosystem-based, scientifically sound management strategy for eastside forests.

RATIONALE

• A foundation for ecosystem management is established by legislation, regulations, and case law.
• Experience, research, and legal precedence have demonstrated that the Forest Service and BLM can be more successful in addressing land and resource issues from a scientifically sound, ecosystem-based approach.
• Federal agencies need a consistent approach to decision making in land management.
The Northwest Forest Plan (the result of 23 years of planning for the northern spotted owl), which used an ecosystem approach, was recently upheld in court as satisfying all legal requirements and containing appropriate ecosystem-wide analysis.
• Current scientific information shows conditions and trends, and helps to describe possible future conditions.
• Project scientists and managers have worked in partnership to develop a wide array of management alternatives.
• Interaction with tribes, other governments, interest groups, and the public from the earliest project stages enriches the base of information available.

BENEFITS

• More effective analysis of cumulative effects of land management activities. Ecosystem health problems can be more successfully resolved by using the best available science to design plans dealing with these overarching issues. A project area perspective allows the agencies to develop and prioritize goals among their various administrative units (National Forests and BLM Districts) which is not possible if each unit continues to develop independent plans.
• Reduced vulnerability to legal challenges. If each of the 47 administrative units within the project area plans independently of the other units, inevitable inconsistencies between the plans, new information, and issues of cumulative effects can create legal vulnerabilities. More frequent and aggressive administrative appeals and litigation, often involving larger areas and more complex issues are evolving. Example: Pacific Rivers Council v. Thomas.
• More consistent and favorable regulatory agency consultations. If each administrative unit acted independently in addressing the anadromous fish issue or other issues subject to regulation, which cross unit boundaries, the regulatory agencies (Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service) could, and likely would, assume worst case conditions in adjacent areas because of a lack of overriding context or coordinated basis for these individual agency plans and decisions.

CHARTERED PRODUCTS

• A Framework for Ecosystem Management in the Interior Columbia River Basin including Portions of the Klamath and Great Basins describes the principles and processes of ecosystem management, and basic steps between assessments, decisions, implementation, and monitoring, to achieve ecosystem management in the project area.
• An Integrated Scientific Assessment for Ecosystem Management in the Interior Columbia River Basin including Portions of the Klamath and Great Basins characterizes and assesses the landscape, ecosystem, social and economic processes and functions, and describes the probable outcomes of continued management practices and trends.
• Eastside Environmental Impact Statement describes seven alternative ecosystem management strategies from which the Forest Service and BLM can make decisions that will adjust and update agency land management plans for those issues addressed at this broader scale in eastern Oregon and Washington east of the crest of the Cascade Mountains.
• Upper Columbia River Basin Environmental Impact Statement describes seven alternative ecosystem management strategies from which the Forest Service and BLM can make decisions that will adjust and update agency land management plans for those issues addressed at this broader scale in Idaho, western Montana and Wyoming, and portions of northern Nevada and Utah.
• An Evaluation of EIS Alternatives by the Science Integration Team will describe the consequences and outcomes from expected implementation of the ecosystem alternatives in the EISs.

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS

• Over 170 computer-mapped data themes will be available to agency employees, tribes, other governments, interest groups, and the public for use, including local agency decisions.
• New relationships established with tribal governments, federal agencies, state, county, and local governments will be maintained.
• Forty-seven Forest Service and BLM administrative units will benefit by updating 74 current land and resource management plans using the products from the project. The geographic area of the project includes over 144 million acres in the interior Columbia River Basin, the Upper Klamath Basin, and parts of the Great Basin. Almost half of that acreage is public land administered by the Forest Service or BLM.

METHOD OF MANAGEMENT

• An interagency Executive Steering Committee of agency executives guides the project.
• Project leadership roles recognize the partnership between science and management.
• The total four year project cost of almost $36 million has been contributed from existing Forest Service and BLM appropriated budgets.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

• Early involvement of other federal agencies, county, state and tribal governements is another highlight of this project.
• Over 100 public informational meetings have taken place since the beginning of the project. Additional local public meetings throughout the basin are planned when the Draft EISs are released. Special features of the comment period will include a live teleconference broadcast to introduce the documents to the public and workshops in cooperation with county governments and with local Forest Congress groups.
• Project information and data are available on the Internet under the ICBEMP Web page.