The Bureau of Land Management signed records of decision (ROD) in mid-January to update greater sage-grouse management on public lands in Colorado and Oregon. The plan amendments are part of a greater plan introduced in November that includes nearly 65 million acres of public land across 10 states.
BLM said the plan amendments for Oregon and Colorado enhance greater sage-grouse conservation and support western communities, in addition to benefiting more than 350 other wildlife species.
The Public Lands Council (PLC) said in a Weekly Roundup e-newsletter that the agency’s inability to finalize the eight other states’ plans and RODs was expected and “hampered by the significant issues left to resolve after protest periods and issues raised in the governors’ consistency reviews, which were submitted earlier this month.”
BLM said the Oregon and Colorado governors did not identify any inconsistencies with the plans in their states, or they were resolved, but the agency made “minor changes” from the proposed resource management plan to resolve potential inconsistencies raised by other states. The changes included clarifying that priority habitat management areas with limited exceptions are identified only as priority habitat management areas.
North Dakota, South Dakota and California did not submit any administrative protests or identify any inconsistencies, so BLM completed the administrative process for finalizing the states’ plans and is prepared to issue RODs. BLM continues to work with Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming to finalize decisions.
Until new RODs are signed with the remaining eight states, BLM will continue to manage greater sage-grouse habitat on those states’ public lands under the 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse Resource Management Plan. The amendments will affect 77 resource management plans in the 10 western states.
“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,” said BLM Principal Deputy Director Nada Wolff Culver.
Reactions
The PLC led comments on the proposed plan amendments in 2024 and said it continues to work with states and partners to make sure the amendments are not overly burdensome on grazing.
“This work resulted in the culmination of a 10-year study demonstrating that grazing is not only not harmful to sage grouse habitat, but is a key benefit to the insects that sustain sage grouse chicks in the early days,” the group said in its newsletter.
PLC said it will work with the Trump administration and states with outstanding records of decision to ensure BLM’s final plan is supported and consistent with state plans.
Opponents of the amendments contend that the sage grouse plans will lock away 65 million acres. “With less than a week remaining, the Biden administration has taken another action detrimental to land management in the West,” said Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01) in a statement. “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.”
Environmental groups were disappointed in habitat management changes. “Notably, BLM opted to discard a habitat management zone that was included in the proposed amendments and that would have provided the strongest level of protection to exceptionally important habitats (over 4 million acres rangewide),” said Defenders of Wildlife in a news release.
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership said completion of plans in Oregon and Colorado is a great step forward. “The completion of plans in Colorado and Oregon is great progress toward ending the cycle of planning so that agency staff and resources can move back to where it needs to be—on species and land management to benefit the sagebrush ecosystem and western communities that rely on it,” said Madeleine West, vice president of western conservation for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, in a statement. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
