BLM-California Policy on Early Alerts

March 7, 2011

In Reply Refer To:
1120 (P)
CA912  

EMS TRANSMISSION: 3/7/11  
Instruction Memorandum No. CA-2011-012
Expires:  9/30/2012

To:               Deputy State Directors, District Managers, All Field Managers

From:           Acting State Director

Subject:       BLM-California Policy on Early Alerts

It is important that significant or controversial issues and actions involving the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) here in California are quickly and appropriately reported to Washington Office.  As per BLM's standard practice, such notifications are made through the Early Alert system.

As changes in the Administration and new appointees and staff come on board in the Department and the Washington Office, it is important that all BLM managers in California utilize this critical system as effectively as possible.  Our goal is to make sure Washington level officials are aware of breaking issues here so they are not surprised by outside news reports, Congressional or constituent contacts, or other external sources of information.

As per established policy, early alerts, using the format specified in the attachment, should be forwarded to the State Office External Affairs staff.  External Affairs is also available to assist any of you via phone or email in receiving/recording your information and putting it into the proper format for transmittal from my office to the Washington Office of Public Affairs.  All early alerts must be routed through the State Director's office to Washington.

Early alerts should be concise, objective, non-speculative, and state the issue as simply as possible.  While they are for internal use/dissemination only, it should be recognized that the information contained will be read by numerous officials in the Bureau and the Department and should be worded accordingly.

Deciding what constitutes an appropriate topic/issue for an early alert is obviously a matter of individual manager judgment.  In general, I would like you to err on the side of preparing an early alert and sending it to the State Office for consideration rather than not notifying us of an issue likely to generate discussion in Washington.  If you have any questions about appropriate issues and aren't sure if the issue requires an early alert, the State Office External Affairs staff is available to assist you.  I appreciate your past efforts in preparing early alerts and ask you to help me make sure BLM-California's issues and information are clearly presented to the Washington Office and the Department in a timely manner.

Signed by:                                    
James Wesley Abbott                                
Acting State Director                      

Authenticated by:     
Richard A. Erickson    
Records Management

Attachment:
           Early Alert Format – (1 p)

                                                                  Early Alert Format

Early Alert

To:                         WO BLM/DOI Officials

From:                     (State) Office

Through:                WO Public Affairs Group Manager

Subject:                  (One line)

What:                     Brief description (1-3 lines)

Who:

Where:

When:

Background:          (a paragraph, if necessary)

Contact:                 Name, State Director, telephone number

                                                                      Attachment 1