About the BLM's ADR Program
The BLM has been utilizing collaborative stakeholder engagement and ADR principles, strategies, and processes for many years--both externally in relationships with the public, and internally in relationships among employees. The BLM’s Collaborative Stakeholder Engagement and Appropriate Dispute Resolution Program (ADR Program) was established in 2002 to strengthen the existing efforts of BLM offices in effectively and appropriately utilizing these tools. The Program is itself mandated by statute (Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996), policy direction from the Office of Management and Budget and the President’s Council on Environmental Quality, and Departmental and Bureau policy and directives. A majority of the Program’s components also have evolved as priorities in response to Field and State Office requests and in response to the public’s requests and expectations.
The ADR Program serves the States and Centers through a Bureau ADR Advisory Council and serves the public through a National Ombudsman service. In CORE PLUS (for internal workplace and EEO disputes), the ADR Program serves as one of several Bureau points of entry for employees and provides implementation oversight. In contracting and acquisition, the ADR Program serves to assist in ensuring consistency in the application of the Contract Disputes Act.
The ADR Program supports collaborative stakeholder engagement in all programs and areas, focusing on renewable energy development; restoration and protection of national icons and landscapes; Bureau strategy for Global Climate Change; and on working relationships with, and support for, Native American communities. The Program focuses most intensely on program activities in natural resources, land use planning, the National Landscape Conservation System, and minerals and realty management, as this suite of Bureau programs involve extensive stakeholder and public engagement. The broad reach of executive and congressional mandates and departmental initiatives for the ADR Program cut across many other Bureau activities and program areas as well.
The primary goals of the ADR Program are to 1) expand opportunities for public involvement and transparency in the BLM’s natural resources decision making process; 2) foster collaborative engagement between the BLM and the public, communities, Tribal, local, and State governments, other Federal agencies, and interest groups on natural resources (including renewable energy) and lands issues of mutual interest or concern; and 3) establish effective Bureau-wide strategies, capacity, and skills in collaborative stakeholder engagement and ADR and ensure that the principles are implemented as standard operating practice throughout the Bureau.
The ADR Program consists of two main parts:
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