Lesson 1: Understanding The “Equal – Not Subordinate” Coordinate Relationship

Congress purposefully created the coordination process as a way for federal agencies to resolve conflicts with the plans and policies of local governments. You will find this direction to the agencies in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the National Forest Management Act (NMFA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), to name a few.

When they gave this mandate, they recognized that local governments and federal agencies have two distinct areas of responsibility, both necessary to effectively run government. The federal agencies execute federal law. Land management agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage federal lands. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manage endangered and threatened species. Local governments are charged with protecting the health, safety and welfare of their local constituency.

Local governments do not manage the federal lands and the federal government does not run the local services such as fire and police protection, health services and infrastructure. However, the federal and local responsibilities are intricately dependent on each other to function well.

Congress also recognized that if local impacts are ignored during the federal planning process, economic harm would occur locally and eventually trickle up to the national level. So, they directed the agencies to coordinate with local governments.

The most common definition of coordination is “equal, not subordinate,” as found in the New Webster’s Dictionary. This means that as the federal government and local government (government-to-government) sit down to resolve their differences with their plans and policies, the local government’s position is equal, not subordinate to the federal position.


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