Environmental management planning is described as an emerging professional discipline characterized by a new set of implementation tools. In order to identify the direction of environmental management planning, two federally funded programs, the Coastal Zone Management Program (U.S. Department of Commerce) and the ‘208’ Areawide Water Quality Management Planning Program (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) are reviewed. CZM and ‘208’ plans and programs expected to receive federal agency approval during 1977–1978, as well as CZM and ‘208’ legislation form the basis for the comparison. It is concluded that the implementation methods being used by these two environmental management planning programs have a number of similarities.