On February 11, 1998, the Andrus Center for Public Policy convened The Future of Our Public Lands: A Symposium on Federal Land Policy. The leaders of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and National Park Service (NPS) were invited to Boise to address conference attendees and then respond to questions and observations from a panel representing various groups interested in land management and from the audience. BLM Director Pat Shea, USFS Chief Mike Dombeck, and NPS Director Bob Stanton were urged, before the conference, to focus their remarks on three questions:
1) What is the current status of land policy in your bureau?
2) In what direction would you like to move that policy?
3) What would you need to achieve that goal