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Glossary of Commonly Used Terms and Acronyms for Planning Efforts Following are definitions for terms and descriptions for acronyms often used by BLM in planning documents. Also see definitions for terms used in Section 103 of FLPMA and the planning regulations at 43 CFR 1601.0-5. This glossary does not supersede these definitions or those in other laws or regulations. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Acronyms Terms -A- Activity Plan: see "Implementation Plan." Alternative Dispute Resolution: any process used to prevent, manage, or resolve conflicts using procedures other than traditional courtroom litigation or formal agency adjudication. Amendment: the process for considering or making changes in the terms, conditions, and decisions of approved RMPs or MFPs using the prescribed provisions for resource management planning appropriate to the proposed action or circumstances. Usually only one or two issues are considered that involve only a portion of the planning area. Assessment: the act of
evaluating and interpreting data and information for a defined purpose. -B- Best Management Practices
(BMP): a suite of techniques that guide, or may be applied to, management
actions to aid in achieving desired outcomes. Best management practices are
often developed in conjunction with land use plans, but they are not considered
a land use plan decision unless the land use plan specifies that they are
mandatory. They may be updated or modified without a plan amendment if they are
not mandatory. -C- Categorical Exclusion (CX): a
category of actions (identified in agency guidance) that do not individually or
cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment, and for which
neither an environmental assessment nor an EIS is required (40 CFR 1508.4). Closed: generally denotes
that an area is not available for a particular use or uses; refer to specific
definitions found in law, regulations, or policy guidance for application to
individual programs. For example, 43 CFR 8340.0-5 sets forth the specific
meaning of "closed" as it relates to OHV use, and 43 CFR 8364 defines "closed"
as it relates to closure and restriction orders. Collaboration : a cooperative process in which interested parties, often with widely varied interests, work together to seek solutions with broad support for managing public and other lands. This may or may not involve an agency as a cooperating agency. Collaborative Partnerships and Collaborative Stewardship: refers to people working together, sharing knowledge and resources, to achieve desired outcomes for public lands and communities within statutory and regulatory frameworks. Conformance: means that a proposed action shall be specifically provided for in the land use plan or, if not specifically mentioned, shall be clearly consistent with the goals, objectives, or standards of the approved land use plan. Conservation Agreement: a formal signed agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service and other parties that implements specific actions, activities, or programs designed to eliminate or reduce threats or otherwise improve the status of a species. CA's can be developed at a State, regional, or national level and generally include multiple agencies at both the State and Federal level, as well as tribes. Depending on the types of commitments the BLM makes in a CA and the level of signatory authority, plan revisions or amendments may be required prior to signing the CA, or subsequently in order to implement the CA. Conservation Strategy: a strategy outlining current activities or threats that are contributing to the decline of a species, along with the actions or strategies needed to reverse or eliminate such a decline or threats. Conservation strategies are generally developed for species of plants and animals that are designated as BLM Sensitive species or that have been determined by the Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service to be Federal candidates under the Endangered Species Act. Consistency: means that the proposed land use plan does not conflict with officially approved plans, programs, and policies of tribes, other Federal agencies, and State and local governments to the extent practical within Federal law, regulation, and policy. Cooperating Agency: assists
the lead Federal agency in developing an EA or EIS. The Council on Environmental
Quality regulations implementing NEPA define a cooperating agency as any agency
that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise for proposals covered by NEPA
(40 CFR 1501.6). Any tribe or Federal, State, or local government jurisdiction
with such qualifications may become a cooperating agency by agreement with the
lead agency. -D- Director (BLM Director): the national Director of the BLM. Documentation of Land Use Plan Conformance and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Adequacy (DNA): a worksheet for determining and documenting that a new, site-specific proposed action both conforms to the existing land use plan(s) and is adequately analyzed in existing NEPA documents. The signed conclusion in the worksheet is an interim step in BLM's internal analysis process and is not an appealable decision. -E- Evaluation (Plan Evaluation):
the process of reviewing the land use plan and the periodic plan monitoring
reports to determine whether the land use plan decisions and NEPA analysis are
still valid and whether the plan is being implemented. -G- Geographic Information System: a computer system capable of storing, analyzing, and displaying data and describing places on the earth's surface. Goal: a broad statement of a desired outcome. Goals are usually not quantifiable and may not have established time frames for achievement. Guidelines: actions or
management practices that may be used to achieve desired outcomes, sometimes
expressed as best management practices. Guidelines may be identified during the
land use planning process, but they are not considered a land use plan decision
unless the plan specifies that they are mandatory. Guidelines for grazing
administration must conform to 43 CFR 4180.2. -I- Implementation Decisions: decisions that take action to implement land use plan decisions. They are generally appealable to IBLA under 43 CFR 4.40. Implementation Plan: a site-specific plan written to implement decisions made in a land use plan. An implementation plans usually selects and applies best management practices to meet land use plan objectives. Implementation plans are synonymous with "activity" plans. Examples of implementation plans include interdisciplinary management plans, habitat management plans, and allotment management plans. Indian tribe (or tribe): any
Indian group in the conterminous United States that the Secretary of the
Interior recognizes as possessing tribal status (listed periodically in the
Federal Register). -L- Land Use Allocation: the identification in a land use plan of the activities and foreseeable development that are allowed, restricted, or excluded for all or part of the planning area, based on desired future conditions. Land Use Plan: a set of decisions that establish management direction for land within an administrative area, as prescribed under the planning provisions of FLPMA; an assimilation of land-use-plan-level decisions developed through the planning process outlined in 43 CFR 1600, regardless of the scale at which the decisions were developed. Land Use Plan Decision: establishes desired outcomes and actions needed to achieve them. Decisions are reached using the planning process in 43 CFR 1600. When they are presented to the public as proposed decisions, they can be protested to the BLM Director. They are not appealable to IBLA. Land Use Planning Base: the entire body of land use plan decisions resulting from RMPs, MFPs, planning analyses, the adoption of other agency plans, or any other type of plan where land-use-plan-level decisions are reached. -M- Management Decision: a decision made by the BLM to manage public lands. Management decisions include both land use plan decisions and implementation decisions. Monitoring (Plan Monitoring): the process of tracking the implementation of land use plan decisions. Multijurisdictional Planning:
collaborative planning in which the purpose is to address land use planning
issues for an area, such as an entire watershed or other landscape unit, in
which there is a mix of public and/or private land ownerships and adjoining or
overlapping tribal, State, local government, or other Federal agency
authorities. -O- Objective: a description of a desired condition for a resource. Objectives can be quantified and measured and, where possible, have established time frames for achievement. Open: generally denotes that
an area is available for a particular use or uses. Refer to specific program
definitions found in law, regulations, or policy guidance for application to
individual programs. For example, 43 CFR 8340.0-5 defines the specific meaning
of "open" as it relates to OHV use. -P- Permitted Use: the forage allocated by, or under the guidance of, an applicable land use plan for livestock grazing in an allotment under a permit or lease; expressed in Animal Unit Months (AUMs) (43 CFR 4100.0-5). Planning Analysis: a process using appropriate resource data and NEPA analysis to provide a basis for decisions in areas not yet covered by an RMP. Planning Criteria: the standards, rules, and other factors developed by managers and interdisciplinary teams for their use in forming judgments about decision making, analysis, and data collection during planning. Planning criteria streamline and simplify the resource management planning actions. Provincial Advisory Council (PAC): see Resource Advisory Council. Public Land:
land or interest
in land owned by the United States and administered by the Secretary of the
Interior through the BLM, except
lands located on the Outer Continental Shelf, and land held for the benefit of
Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos. -R- Resource Advisory Council (RAC): a council established by the Secretary of the Interior to provide advice or recommendations to BLM management. In some states, Provincial Advisory Councils (PACs) are functional equivalents of RACs. Resource Use Level: the level of use allowed within an area. It is based on the desired outcomes and land use allocations in the land use plan. Targets or goals for resource use levels are established on an area-wide or broad watershed level in the land use plan. Site-specific resource use levels are normally determined at the implementation level, based on site-specific resource conditions and needs as determined through resource monitoring and assessments. Revision: the process of
completely rewriting the land use plan due to changes in the planning area
affecting major portions of the plan or the entire plan. -S- Scale: refers to the geographic area and data resolution under examination in an assessment or planning effort.
Standard: a description of the physical and biological conditions or degree of function required for healthy, sustainable lands (e.g., land health standards). State Implementation Plan (SIP): a strategic document, prepared by a State (or other authorized air quality regulatory agency) and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that throughly describes how requirements of the Clean Air Act will be implemented (including standards to be achieved, control measures to be applied, enforcement actions in case of violation, etc.). Special status species: includes proposed species, listed species, and candidate species under the ESA; State-listed species; and BLM State Director-designated sensitive species (see BLM Manual 6840 - Special Status Species Policy). Strategic Plan (BLM Strategic Plan): a plan that establishes the overall direction for the BLM. This plan is guided by the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, covers a 5-year period, and is updated every 3 years. It is consistent with FLPMA and other laws affecting the public lands. -T- Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL): an estimate of the total quantity of pollutants (from all sources: point, nonpoint, and natural) that may be allowed into waters without exceeding applicable water quality criteria. Tribe: see Indian tribe. ACEC Area of Critical Environmental Concern ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution AUM Animal Unit Month BLM Bureau of Land Management CA Conservation Agreement CEQ Council on Environmental Quality CFR Code of Federal Regulations CS Conservation Strategy CX Categorical Exclusion DM Departmental Manual DNA Documentation of Land Use Plan Conformance and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Adequacy DOI Department of the Interior DR Decision Record (for an EA) EA Environmental Assessment EIS Environmental Impact Statement EPA Environmental Protection Agency ESA Endangered Species Act FACA Federal Advisory Committee Act FWS Fish and Wildlife Service FLPMA Federal Land Policy and Management Act FONSI Finding of No Significant Impact GIS Geographic Information System IBLA Interior Board of Land Appeals LAC Limits of Acceptable Change LUP Land use Plan MFP Management Framework Plan MOU Memorandum of Understanding NOA Notice of Availability NOI Notice of Intent NEPA National Environmental Policy Act NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service OHV Off-Highway Vehicle (also refers to Off-Road Vehicles) PAC Provincial Advisory Council RAC Resource Advisory Council RMP Resource Management Plan ROD Record of Decision (for an EIS) ROS Recreation Opportunity Spectrum T&E Threatened and Endangered TMDL Total Maximum Daily Load U.S.C. United States Code VRM Visual Resource Management |
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