Natural Resources Management Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1996-97
(Letter Report, 08/01/95, GAO/IAP-95-16).
GAO presented its Natural Resources Management issue area plan for
fiscal years 1996 through 1997.
GAO plans to assess: (1) ways to obtain a better return on the sale or
use of natural resources on federal lands or eliminate or reduce federal
subsidies; (2) efficiency improvements within and coordination among the
four primary federal land management agencies; (3) improvements in
collaboration and consensus-building among federal and nonfederal
stakeholders to address problems or issues related to natural resources;
and (4) whether agencies are meeting existing production and
conservation requirements.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: IAP-95-16
TITLE: Natural Resources Management Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years
1996-97
DATE: 08/01/95
SUBJECT: Land management
Natural resources
Fair market value
Interagency relations
Conservation
National forests
National parks
Wildlife management
Federal agency reorganization
Cost control
******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a **
** GAO report. Delineations within the text indicating chapter **
** titles, headings, and bullets are preserved. Major **
** divisions and subdivisions of the text, such as Chapters, **
** Sections, and Appendixes, are identified by double and **
** single lines. The numbers on the right end of these lines **
** indicate the position of each of the subsections in the **
** document outline. These numbers do NOT correspond with the **
** page numbers of the printed product. **
** **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced. Tables are included, but **
** may not resemble those in the printed version. **
** **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed **
** document's contents. **
** **
** A printed copy of this report may be obtained from the GAO **
** Document Distribution Center. For further details, please **
** send an e-mail message to: **
** **
** **
** **
** with the message 'info' in the body. **
******************************************************************
Cover
================================================================ COVER
Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division
August 1995
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ISSUE
AREA PLAN - FISCAL YEARS 1996-97
GAO/IAP-95-16
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0
As the investigative arm of Congress and the nation's auditor, the
General Accounting Office is charged with following the federal
dollar wherever it goes. Reflecting stringent standards of
objectivity and independence, GAO's audits, evaluations, and
investigations promote a more efficient and cost-effective
government; expose waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in federal
programs; help Congress target budget reductions; assess financial
information management; and alert Congress to developing trends that
may have significant fiscal or budgetary consequences. In fulfilling
its responsibilities, GAO performs original research and uses
hundreds of databases or creates its own to compile and analyze
information.
To ensure that GAO's resources are directed toward the most important
issues facing Congress, each of GAO's 35 issue areas develops a
strategic plan that describes its key issues and their significance;
the objectives and focus of its work; and the planned major job
starts. Each issue area relies heavily on input from congressional
committees, agency officials, and subject-matter experts in
developing its strategic plan.
The Natural Resources Management issue area reviews the Department of
the Interior and its bureaus, the Department of Agriculture's Forest
Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Marine
Fisheries Service and other oceanic programs within the Department of
Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Together, these agencies are responsible for about 650 million acres,
or about 30 percent, of the nation's total surface area; another 1.4
billion acres of ocean floor; and an infrastructure of buildings,
roads, dams, and other facilities valued at about $200 billion.
These assets generated about $6.7 billion in revenues in fiscal year
1994.
GAO's work in natural resources management generally focuses on
improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government
in fulfilling its stewardship responsibilities. The principal issues
are
-- increasing revenues by obtaining a better return for the sale or
use of natural resources on federal lands or by eliminating or
reducing federal subsidies;
-- improving efficiency within and coordination among the four
primary federal land management agencies--the National Park
Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife
Service within Interior, and the Forest Service within
Agriculture;
-- improving collaboration and consensus-building among federal and
nonfederal stakeholders to address problems or issues related to
natural resources; and
-- assessing whether agencies are meeting, or changes need to be
made to, existing production and conservation requirements.
In the following pages, we describe our objectives and planned work
on these issues. Because unanticipated events may significantly
affect this plan, our planning process allows for updating the plan
and responding quickly to new emerging issues. If you have any
questions or suggestions, please call me at (202) 512-7756 or one of
my associates Barry T. Hill, at (202) 512-8021 or James K. Meissner
at (206) 287-4810.
James Duffus III
Director
Natural Resources Management Issues
CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1
FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1
1
TABLE I: KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2
4
TABLE II: PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3
6
TABLE I: KEY ISSUES
============================================================ Chapter 2
Issue Significance
---------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Increasing revenues: Do Opportunities may exist to increase revenues by
opportunities exist to obtaining a better return on the sale or use of
increase revenues either by natural resources on federal lands as well as by
obtaining a better return on eliminating or reducing existing subsidies.
the sale or use of natural Operating federal land management agencies more
resources on federal lands like profitable businesses could save taxpayers
or by eliminating or billions of dollars a year and reduce the growing
reducing existing shortfall between maintenance and reconstruction
subsidies? needs and the funds available to meet these
needs.
Improving efficiency: Can The four primary federal land management agencies-
federal land management -the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land
agencies become more Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service
efficient? within Interior and the Forest Service within
Agriculture--are in the process of downsizing and
restructuring. They are also beginning to consider
which functions and programs to eliminate or turn
over to state and local governments or the private
sector. In addition, legislation has been
introduced to ease regulatory controls on federal
land managers and to simplify and expedite
planning and other procedural requirements. The
effectiveness of these efforts as well as the
potential to reduce costs, increase efficiency,
and improve service to the public by coordinating
and integrating functions, systems, activities,
and programs among the four agencies are important
issues to Congress.
Coordinating federal and Many problems or issues relating to natural
nonfederal approaches to resources management transcend the existing
managing natural resources: boundaries of the four primary federal land
Do barriers exist to management agencies. These agencies believe that
implementing broader broader approaches to problem-solving are required
approaches to meet the to address activities originating across ownership
government's two basic boundaries and have begun to test approaches that
stewardship mandates: (1) require, among other things, increased
sustain long-term commodity collaboration and consensus-building among federal
production and use on and nonfederal stakeholders.
federal lands and (2)
conserve natural resources
for future generations?
Assessing production and Federal land management agencies and other federal
conservation requirements: agencies must comply with existing production and
Are federal agencies with conservation laws and regulations. The extent of
land management their compliance as well as the reasons for any
responsibilities meeting noncompliance and the extent to which these
existing production and agencies are held accountable are important to
conservation requirements or Congress's oversight responsibilities. Congress is
are changes needed? also considering changes to substantive
conservation requirements, including the
Endangered Species Act and the wetlands provisions
of the Clean Water Act.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objectives Focus of work
---------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
--Evaluate ways to obtain a better --Potential sources of additional
return on the sale or use of natural revenues, including fees, and the
resources on federal lands, recover purposes, beneficiaries, and impacts
reasonable program costs, and provide a of subsidies
revenue base that can be used to better
manage federal lands and resources. --Impacts of managing federal lands
more like a profitable business and of
--Identify opportunities to eliminate or emphasizing the combinations of land
reduce subsidies that are no longer uses that are most valuable while
needed, benefit the wrong parties, or safeguarding nonmarketable resources
degrade or encourage abuse of natural
resources.
--Assess ways to operate federal land
management agencies more like profitable
businesses.
--Recommend ways for federal land --Duplication of systems, functions,
management agencies to reduce costs, activities, and programs among
increase efficiency, and improve service agencies and opportunities to link
to the public. proposed reforms
--Provide alternative approaches to --Agencies' efforts to identify
downsize federal land management functions and programs to eliminate or
agencies. turn over to state and local
governments or the private sector
--Identify opportunities to simplify and
expedite federal land management --Agencies' efforts to provide their
planning and procedural requirements. land managers greater flexibility in
complying with planning and procedural
--Recommend ways to improve federal land requirements
management agencies' ability to account
for the $6 billion a year appropriated --Agencies' compliance with the Chief
to them and to measure program benefits Financial Officers Act and the
as required by law. Government Performance and Results
Act
--Identify potential ways to improve --Barriers to federal and nonfederal
federal and nonfederal collaboration to collaboration and consensus-building
address problems or issues that and options for overcoming them
transcend existing ownership
boundaries. --Alternatives to command-and-control
regulations to accomplish basic
--Evaluate options to accomplish basic stewardship mandates, including
stewardship mandates while easing incentives, education, and technical
regulatory controls on private assistance
landowners and other nonfederal
parties. --Adequacy of available scientific and
socioeconomic data, including gaps,
--Assess approaches to improve the duplication, or overlap
scientific and socioeconomic data
available to help Congress make informed
public policy decisions on natural
resources management.
--Identify opportunities to improve --Changes in programs, systems,
agency compliance with existing activities, and projects to improve
production and conservation compliance with existing laws and
requirements. regulations
--Determine the impact of existing --Sources of conflicts among laws and
individual conservation or protection regulations and options to mitigate or
laws or regulations on federal land eliminate the conflicts
managers' ability to meet their basic
stewardship mandates.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE II: PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3
Issue Planned major job starts
------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
Increasing revenues --Assess efforts by the Forest Service to obtain a
better return for special uses of its lands.
--Assess potential sources of additional revenues,
including increasing fees and decreasing subsidies.
Improving Efficiency --Assess efforts by the four primary federal land
management agencies to downsize, streamline, and
restructure.
--Assess the potential for consolidating functions,
systems, activities, or programs among the four
agencies.
--Evaluate the effectiveness of the four agencies'
ongoing efforts to identify functions and programs to
eliminate or to turn over to others.
--Assess agencies' compliance with the Chief
Financial Officers and Government Performance and
Results Acts.
--Identify potential savings in the administration's
fiscal year 1997 budget for the four agencies.
Coordinating federal and --Evaluate the administration's efforts to identify
nonfederal approaches to and address barriers to implementing broader
managing natural approaches to environmental and natural resources
resources management.
--Identify barriers to the four agencies' efforts to
increase cooperation with other federal agencies and
ways to overcome those barriers.
--Identify barriers to federal and nonfederal
collaboration and consensus-building and ways to
overcome them.
--Identify data and systems problems within the
Department of the Interior and the Forest Service and
ways to solve them.
Assessing --Identify ways to protect endangered species while
production and easing the act's impact on managing federal lands and
conservation requirements on private property rights.
--Analyze reasons for, impact of, and ways to
mitigate the nation's declining commercial fish
populations.
--Assess the viability of maintaining a commercial
timber program.
--Identify internal threats to the national parks and
ways to address them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** End of document. ***