Developing a step-by-step process for assessing cumulative effects in the Bureau of Land Management Active
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to assess potential impacts of proposed actions as part of their decision-making processes. Assessing potential cumulative effects is a challenging component of NEPA analyses. We are working with the Bureau of Land Management to develop a process that staff can use to strengthen cumulative effects analyses.
Many Bureau of Land Management (BLM) planning and management decisions require analysis of the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects of proposed actions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). To analyze potential cumulative effects, public land managers must consider the interaction of the effects of a proposed action with the aggregate effects of all other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future human activities. Cumulative effects are often complex, and the BLM is interested in developing a process that staff can use to strengthen cumulative effects analyses.
The BLM and the Council on Environmental Quality have issued policy and guidance on analyzing cumulative effects. In addition, the scientific literature has explored frameworks for analyzing cumulative effects. Our goal for this project is to build on this past work by developing a clear, step-by-step process that BLM staff can follow to analyze potential cumulative effects of proposed actions on federal public lands. We have outlined five objectives to meet this goal:
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Compile and synthesize policy, guidance, and science for analyzing cumulative effects in the BLM.
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Assess the nature of recent challenges to BLM cumulative effects analyses in litigation and protests.
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Evaluate recent BLM NEPA documents to understand current practice for assessing and documenting cumulative effects.
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Develop a step-by-step process for analyzing cumulative effects in the BLM, test that process by applying it to several actions commonly proposed on BLM lands, and create a suite of ‘worked examples’ for different types of proposed actions and affected resources.
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Work with BLM staff to develop a technical reference that describes the process, lays out a standard workflow for analyses, and provides multiple examples.
Anticipated Benefits
Our cumulative effects analysis process will be tailored to help BLM staff find the data, science, and methodologies they need to understand and assess potential cumulative effects of commonly proposed actions on BLM lands. Stronger cumulative effects analyses can help BLM resource managers better understand potential future impacts of their planning and management decisions within and across landscapes, supporting Department of the Interior efforts to manage public lands and resources at the landscape scale.
BLM-USGS Science-Management Partnership
The USGS and BLM are partnering to coproduce practical, actionable science that informs planning, policy, and management decisions on public lands managed by the BLM (see Beier and others, 2017 for more information on coproduction).
Learn more about other science related to this project.
Identifying priority science needs for strengthening the science foundation for decision making in the Bureau of Land Management
Using public litigation records to identify priority science and data needs for the Bureau of Land Management
Developing a toolkit for coproducing actionable science to support public land management
- Overview
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to assess potential impacts of proposed actions as part of their decision-making processes. Assessing potential cumulative effects is a challenging component of NEPA analyses. We are working with the Bureau of Land Management to develop a process that staff can use to strengthen cumulative effects analyses.
Many Bureau of Land Management (BLM) planning and management decisions require analysis of the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects of proposed actions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). To analyze potential cumulative effects, public land managers must consider the interaction of the effects of a proposed action with the aggregate effects of all other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future human activities. Cumulative effects are often complex, and the BLM is interested in developing a process that staff can use to strengthen cumulative effects analyses.
The BLM and the Council on Environmental Quality have issued policy and guidance on analyzing cumulative effects. In addition, the scientific literature has explored frameworks for analyzing cumulative effects. Our goal for this project is to build on this past work by developing a clear, step-by-step process that BLM staff can follow to analyze potential cumulative effects of proposed actions on federal public lands. We have outlined five objectives to meet this goal:
-
Compile and synthesize policy, guidance, and science for analyzing cumulative effects in the BLM.
-
Assess the nature of recent challenges to BLM cumulative effects analyses in litigation and protests.
-
Evaluate recent BLM NEPA documents to understand current practice for assessing and documenting cumulative effects.
-
Develop a step-by-step process for analyzing cumulative effects in the BLM, test that process by applying it to several actions commonly proposed on BLM lands, and create a suite of ‘worked examples’ for different types of proposed actions and affected resources.
-
Work with BLM staff to develop a technical reference that describes the process, lays out a standard workflow for analyses, and provides multiple examples.
Anticipated Benefits
Our cumulative effects analysis process will be tailored to help BLM staff find the data, science, and methodologies they need to understand and assess potential cumulative effects of commonly proposed actions on BLM lands. Stronger cumulative effects analyses can help BLM resource managers better understand potential future impacts of their planning and management decisions within and across landscapes, supporting Department of the Interior efforts to manage public lands and resources at the landscape scale.
BLM-USGS Science-Management Partnership
The USGS and BLM are partnering to coproduce practical, actionable science that informs planning, policy, and management decisions on public lands managed by the BLM (see Beier and others, 2017 for more information on coproduction).
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- Science
Learn more about other science related to this project.
Identifying priority science needs for strengthening the science foundation for decision making in the Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is committed to using science-informed decision making for the public lands and resources that it manages. Uses on these lands are varied, and decisions are complex. USGS and BLM are working together to identify specific needs for data, science, methods, and mitigation actions that can strengthen the science foundation for BLM planning and management decisions.Using public litigation records to identify priority science and data needs for the Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages a large area of public lands in the western U.S. for multiple uses and values. Because some of these uses and values may conflict, the agency’s decisions can be controversial and are often challenged. We analyzed public legal records to help identify priority information needs that could strengthen science-based decision-making in the BLMDeveloping a toolkit for coproducing actionable science to support public land management
Coproduction is a highly collaborative approach to conducting science that focuses on producing actionable products that are used to inform natural resource management decisions. This project will develop an informational toolkit to facilitate coproduction between resource managers and science providers in the context of federal public land management. - News
- Partners