Land Use Planning

This final rule modifies the BLM's planning regulations with three objectives. It defines cooperating agency and cooperating agency status. It clarifies the responsibility of managers to offer this status to qualified agencies and governments, and to respond to requests for this status. Finally, it makes clear the role of cooperating agencies in the various steps of BLM's planning process. The rule is necessary to emphasize the importance of working with Federal and state agencies and local and tribal governments through cooperating agency relationships in developing, amending, and revising the Bureau's resource management plans. BLM's current planning regulations do not mention the cooperating agency relationship.