This cooperative strategy recognized that if riparian-wetland areas are to be produc-tive, they have to be managed on a watershed basis, which requires working togetheracross ownership boundaries. To be successful, the agencies would need to usecommon terms and definitions and determine a minimum method for evaluating thecondition of riparian-wetland areas. The BLM and the FS identified the PFCmethod as the starting point—as the minimum level of assessment for riparian-wetland areas.