Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed federal wildlife management on public lands, focusing on: (1) whether the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) appropriately considered wildlife interests during federal land use planning processes; and (2) the impact of federal management practices on wildlife conditions.
GAO found that: (1) no legislation existed that specified an appropriate level of consideration of wildlife interests in federal land management; (2) wildlife protection and enhancement activities received between 3 percent and 7 percent of available BLM and Service staffing and funding; (3) while BLM and the Service uniformly considered wildlife needs during land use planning, when conflicts occurred, the agencies frequently favored consumptive interests over wildlife needs; (4) BLM and the Service did not always implement actions to benefit wildlife that were included in land use plans; (5) data were not available to judge the overall effect of BLM and Service policies and practices on wildlife conditions; (6) the agencies' land use priorities, budgets, and staffing met grazing, logging, and mining objectives first and provided for wildlife interests as circumstances permitted; and (7) BLM and the Service initiated efforts to provide more balanced consideration of wildlife needs in their management activities.
