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<br />Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin <br /> <br />agency officials around the country are working under a different model. <br />Generally known as ecosystem management, various observers define it <br />differently, but the basic idea is to try to manage in a more coordinated <br />fashion across jurisdictional boundaries and to incorporate mechanisms for <br />implementing what is learned about management actions (adaptive <br />management). The central features of ecosystem management include <br />(Kohm and Franklin 1997a): <br /> <br />. Working with as many resource owners and managers as possible to <br />coordinate the gathering and analysis of ecological and socio-economic <br />information covering a larger area than under conventional management <br />approaches. <br /> <br />. Coordinating management activities with all relevant resource owners, <br />managers, and regulators, taking into account management objectives <br />with a longer horizon than under conventional management. <br /> <br />~ <br />c <br /> <br />. Recognizing the unpredictability of ecological processes and anticipating <br />that surprises in the understanding of these ecological processes can <br />necessitate a rethinking of management approaches. <br /> <br />. Engaging in and supporting dialogue with all stakeholders to elevate <br />understanding of ecological and socio-economic issues, evaluate <br />resource-management alternatives, and elucidate decisions. <br /> <br />I; <br /> <br />Although the discussion in Chapter 4 reveals that some federal agencies <br />recently have taken significant steps consistent with ecosystem <br />management, we recommend that federal agencies in the Basin do more. <br />Especially those agencies most directly involved in resource <br />management-Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec), Army Corps of Engineers <br />(CoE), Fish & Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Forest <br />Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Natural Resource Conservation <br />Service-should investigate and pursue opportunities for taking a broader <br />ecological and economic view of their activities. Each agency can and should <br />do more to alter its own operations as well as to coordinate with other federal <br />agencies and to reach out to non.federal entities. We do not believe it is <br />advisable, or even possible, at this time and distance to prescribe the <br />structural, behavioral, and legal arrangements for individual agencies or for <br />sets of agencies. Indeed, the adaptive nature of ecosystem management <br /> <br />f: <br /> <br />i~ <br /> <br />130 <br /> <br />~<,3~10 <br />