303 



Even though the will of Congress as to planning management 

 was made clear through the con^romlse, the Ecosystem 

 planners moved full steam ahead with a process which will 

 end with a Record of Decision. A staff member of the 

 Project Team admitted at a meeting that they were aware of 

 the intent of Congress, but were moving on to a Record of 

 Decision cUiyway. 



(2) The ecosystem projects are being prepared 

 outside the scope of federal management agency regulations . 

 within the authority granted statutorily by Congress, the 

 Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, have 

 issued regulations intplementing the management principles 

 established by the Congress. Until release of the so-called 

 Rangeland Reform regulations by Secretary Babbitt last year, 

 those regulations for the most part have been kept within 

 the parameter of the authority granted by Congress. 

 Rangeland Reform regixlations are inconsistent with the 

 statutory mandates for grazing atnd multiple uses on the 

 range lands, and in several instances usurp the power of 

 Congress. But, perhaps encouraged by the success of 

 Secretary Babbitt in ignoring the Congressional mandates and 

 the Constitution, the developers of the ecosystem projects 

 set a course just as unconstitutionally insidious as 

 Rangeland Reform. 



Because the ecosystem projects are operated tinder the 

 multiple agency Memorandiim of Understanding, there is no one 

 agency which governs development of the EIS and issuance of 

 the Record of Decision. So, the EIS and Ecosystem 

 alternatives and Record of Decision can be established 

 outside the parameters of regulations of any specific 

 agency, and outside the oversight of Congress. No 

 administrative regulations have to be issued to govern the 

 development of and implementation of the EIS and Record of 

 Decision. Yet, the elm and the Forest Services will be 

 bound to amend their site specific land management plains to 

 come" into consistency with the ecosystem plan. Because the 

 Ecosystem teams claim to have satisfied the NEPA mandate of 

 public involvement, the BLM and Forest Services can amend 

 their plauis and incorporate the ecosystem plan without 

 complying with the NEPA mandate or their own regulations. 

 So, for exait5)le, while the Forest Service regulations 

 require coordinating their planning activities such as plcui 

 amendments with local government, the Service will now be 

 able to amend their plans outside those regulations by 

 simply carrying across Ecosystem standards and guidelines 

 into their Forest Plans. 



So, on both fronts, the ecosystem project teams will evade 

 Congressional authority. On the one hand. Congress has not 

 authorized the development of these widespread plans to the 

 point to which they have been developed. On the other hand. 



