Last week, the Bureau of Land Management announced plans to “enhance” greater sage-grouse conservation on public lands in Oregon and Colorado.  The agency said the approved habitat conservation measures will support western communities and benefit more than 350 other wildlife species.  Opponents of the proposal said the Bureau’s management plans will lock away 65 million acres across the west.

 

These two plan amendments are part of a range-wide approach developed in coordination with 10 states, Tribes, local communities, and the public to enhance conservation for greater sage-grouse.  BLM has also completed the administrative process for the North Dakota, South Dakota, and California records of decision, and is prepared to issue RODs for those three states.  BLM said it continues to work closely with wildlife managers in five other states to finalize decisions for sagebrush areas that improve habitat conservation through a range-wide approach while being consistent with individual state plans and priorities. Until the records of decisions are signed, the BLM will continue to manage the public lands in those eight states under plans first adopted in 2015. 

 

“These decisions are the result of our ongoing commitment to work with states to enhance protections that have been in place for nearly a decade,” said BLM Principal Deputy Director Nada Wolff Culver. “The BLM looks forward to reaching similar decisions in the remaining states so that the agency is better able to effectively respond to changing conditions and ensure the viability of sage-grouse populations into the future.”

 

The BLM said it initiated this plan amendment effort based on updated scientific information and changing land uses to provide for consistent and effective range-wide conservation that is responsive to locally relevant habitat variability, and to address ongoing litigation including a U.S. District Court of Idaho’s preliminary injunction preventing implementation of the 2019 Approved RMP Amendments.

 

“With less than a week remaining, the Biden Administration has taken another action detrimental to land management in the West,” Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Doug LaMalfa said in a statement last week. “BLM’s sage-grouse management announcement undermines rural economies and impacts land uses such as grazing and energy production on millions of acres across Western states. As Chairman of the Western Caucus, I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Trump Administration on returning federal lands to proper management.”

 

“In the final days of this administration, Joe Biden and Tracy Stone-Manning won’t miss an opportunity to further their radical environmental goals,” added Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis. “I look forward to working with President Trump and Western Caucus members to turn the ship.”

 

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