REINVENTING TRAINING: FOCUS ON ADMINISTRATIVE DECISION MAKING PROCESS RATHER THAN “NEPA”

1. REINVENTING TRAINING: FOCUS ON ADMINISTRATIVE DECISION MAKING PROCESS RATHER THAN “NEPA” Recognize that government land managers are required to make decisions through a formal process called “administrative decision making,” which must be framed in appropriate social, legal, and political contexts, not just “NEPA.”

2. Gridlock! • The Forest Service is bogged down in gridlocked decision making processes that • take too long, • cost too much, • and do not produce useful products for the public, the courts, and decision makers • The Forest Service loses an unacceptably high number of lawsuits, which further gridlocks decisions

3. TWO PHRASES NEED TO BE ELIMINATED FROM THE FOREST SERVICE’S VOCABULARY! “NEPA DECISION” “NEPA PROCESS”

4. WHY? • They don’t mean anything! • They confuse employees and the public about what is happening and why! • They confuse employees and the public about what laws apply and must be complied with! Viewing all administrative decisions primarily in the context of NEPA leads to confusion internally, with the public, and with the courts.

5. Understanding Administrative Decision Making • The Forest Service makesadministrative decisions through an administrative process, it does not make NEPA decisions through a NEPA process. • Everything the Forest Service does requires some sort of administrative decision! • Administrative decision making is governed by many more legal requirements than the mere consideration of potential environmental consequences under NEPA. • For each administrative decision made by the Forest Service, a determination of the legal requirements that apply must be made.

6. Legal considerations for administrative decisions: NFMA NEPA ESA NHPA Program Requirements Substantive Environmental laws And More Social and political considerations for administrative decisions: Collaboration Politics: Power Use and Abuse Management/Leadership Org. Learning Budget And More A System of Classes Centered on Admin. DM w/ satellite courses:

7. 1900-1 Course Curriculum • The core course for line officers and resource management staff should be administrative decision making. • Other Courses should build on this core course. • Refresher courses should be routine. • Training should be built into career development plans.

8. NEPA NFMA CWA/CAA Public Input Program NHPA Politics ESA Mgmt Priorities Budget Administrative Decision (APA) Adm. Dec. Making w/ Legal & Other Modules

9. Training, Training, Training!Education, Education, Education!Coaching, Coaching, Coaching! • Managers, program specialists, and field level technicians cannot be expected to fully understand or appreciate the complexities of the administrative decision making process without appropriate training, ongoing education, and continual coaching & mentoring.

10. Beyond Cookbooks! • NEPA is just a small part of administrative decision making; the focus of training should be administrative decision making, not just NEPA compliance; • One course such as 1900-1 is not enough, this has to be approached as professional development, which occurs throughout a career, not in a one shot training exercise; • Cookbook directives systems are not the answer, the agency needs thinking professionals who can work through problems, not amateur chefs; • Best training opportunities involve real-life decisions and problems. • Use agency professionals, OGC attorneys, and outside trainers for both formal and informal training.

11. Satellite Module(s) • Next Step: Build satellite modules • A few ideas re: legal context follow

12. Legal Module(s) • The following Slides are preliminary notions relative to a set of legal modules

13. Effective Administrative Records • The Forest Service has difficulty compiling administrative records that contain what the courts are looking for, in part because too many of its people don’t understand what they are doing to meet legal process requirements or why they are doing it.

14. What the Courts Need • “Process” includes reasoned, logical, analytical decision making, as well as compliance with procedural and other legal requirements. • With “process gridlock,” it is the “gridlock” that is bad, not the “process.” The solution to process gridlock is not process avoidance, that only leads to more gridlock. The solution to process gridlock is process improvement. • Process is important to our system of government, and should not be discarded. • The key to process improvement is doing the right process for the right reasons, which requires an understanding of administrative decision making.