Summary

The "ecosystem" approach to managing the nation's lands and natural resources stresses that plant and animal communities are interdependent and interact with their physical environment to form ecosystems that span federal and nonfederal lands. GAO found that the four primary federal land management agencies--the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service--have started to implement ecosystem management. In addition, the administration's fiscal year 1995 budget request includes $700 million for ecosystem management initiatives. GAO recognizes that, compared with the existing federal approach to land management, ecosystem management may require greater flexibility in planning; in budgeting, authorizing, and appropriating funds; and in adapting management on the basis of new information. However, GAO believes that if ecosystem management implementation is to move forward, it must advance beyond unclear priorities and broad principles. Clear goals and practical steps for implementing ecosystem management need to be established and progress in implementing this approach needs to be regularly assessed and reported. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Ecosystem Management: Additional Actions Needed to Adequately Test a Promising Approach, by James Duffus III, Director of Natural Resources Management Issues, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Natural Resources, the Subcommittee on Environment and Natural Resources, House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and the Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and Natural Resources, House Committee on Agriculture. GAO/T-RCED-94-308, Sept. 20, 1994 (nine pages).

GAO found that: (1) all four of the federal land management agencies plan to develop and implement ecosystem approaches to managing their lands and natural resources; (2) the four federal land management agencies have worked cooperatively with each other and with state, local and private agencies to implement ecosystem management approaches; (3) the government has requested fiscal year (FY) 1995 funding for four ecosystem management pilot projects and is considering adopting a governmentwide ecological management approach; (4) the government needs to clarify the goals of ecosystem management before it can be fully implemented, define ecosystems and their ecologies, and make difficult management choices based on new information; (5) barriers to governmentwide implementation include the lack of ecological and socio-ecological data, federal interagency coordination, and cooperation between federal land management agencies and nonfederal interest groups; and (6) the four proposed pilot projects could be useful in identifying further implementation barriers and actions that are needed to further implement these efforts.