GENERAL GUIDANCE

19.04.050 General Guidance. To the fullest extent required or permitted by law, including this Ordinance, all federal and state agencies shall, in all actions considered, proposed or taken, that affect or have the potential of affecting the use of land or natural resources within Walla Walla County:

A. consider the effects such actions have on (i) community stability; (ii) maintenance of custom, culture and economic stability; and (iii) conservation and use of the environment and natural resources, as part of the action taken;

B. coordinate procedures to the fullest extent possible with the County, on an equal basis and not with the County as subordinate, prior to and during the taking of any federal or state action;

C. meet with the County to establish, through a memorandum of understanding or otherwise, the process for such coordination, including joint planning, joint environmental research and data collection, joint hearings, and joint environmental assessments;

D. submit a list and description of alternatives in light of possible conflicts with the County's laws, policies and plans, including the Comprehensive Plan; consider reconciling the proposed action with the County's laws, policies, and plans, including the Comprehensive Plan; and after such consideration, take all practical measures to resolve such conflict and

display the results of such consideration in appropriate documentation;

E. not, in any environmental impact statement or otherwise, assume that any proposed actions would be consistent with County conditions or would have a non-significant impact, without coordination and consultation with the County and review of data specific to the County;

F. in absence of a direct constitutional conflict, coordinate with the County so as to comply with federal and state statutes and regulations, and County laws, policies and plans, including the Comprehensive Plan;

G. take appropriate mitigation measures adopted with the concurrence of the County to mitigate adequately adverse impacts on culture, custom, economic stability or protection and use of the environment; and

H. not violate through regulatory means or otherwise any private property rights of citizens of Walla Walla County.

The Congress has passed many statutes in exercise of this Constitutional power and authority. Most of those statutes authorize the Secretary who heads an executive management agency to issue rules and regulations to implement the statutes. But the management power and authority never leaves the Congress. The management agencies simply manage the land for the Congress. Their regulations must be consistent with the statutes and must not exceed the authority granted by the statutes.

Walla Walla County early adopted the planning concept that the statutes passed by Congress provide the standards by which federal land must be managed. The County has encountered instances of agency resistance to this concept, with agency personnel putting more emphasis on policy manuals than on the statutes themselves. But, the County has remained firm in its commitment to use all its means to assure that the statutes do provide the standards by which the federal lands will be managed.

The Walla Walla County Coordinating Committee and the Board of Commissioners have developed this plan to serve as a means of coordination of planning activities with federal and state management agencies. That is the County's obligation to its citizens and to the Congress under those provisions of the Federal Land Policy And Management Act which requires coordination of planning by the federal agencies.

Through coordinated planning, the federal lands can be managed so as to sustain productivity for this and future generations, to maintain the quality of the resources, to protect and preserve private property rights and interests, to maintain full multiple use, and to preserve and maintain the custom, culture and economic stability of the County.

There are several general areas of management in which issues are raised which must be resolved through coordinated planning. This portion of the Plan discusses the principles involved in those general areas of management which give general guidance toward resolution of specific issues of management guided by the standards set by the statutes and the general principles set forth to identify those specific management techniques and actions needed to meet the objectives identified. From time to time, the Committee and the Board will request preparation of reports regarding these principles and the specific management techniques and actions. Those reports will become part of the on-going planning process and when adopted will became, by amendment, part of this Plan.