The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has opened a public comment period for managing Gunnison sage-grouse on public lands to protect habitat from energy development, livestock grazing, recreation and mineral development in southwestern Colorado and southeast Utah.
The Gunnison sage-grouse is similar to the greater sage-grouse, but was designated as its own species in 2000. In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated the Gunnison sage-grouse population as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The sage grouse occupies 10% of its historical range in eight population centers, mainly in the Gunnison Basin, according to BLM.
BLM released a draft resource management plan (RMP) amendment and draft environmental
impact statement (EIS) in 2016 but suspended the plan in 2018 when USFWS announced a recovery plan for the bird. In 2020, USFWS developed the final recovery plan for the Gunnison sage-grouse using occupied habitats where breeding occurs and unoccupied habitats where the bird formerly occupied.
Alternatives
The draft RMP/EIS incorporates recommendations from the recovery plan and details five alternatives for addressing the conservation needs of the sage grouse with public land uses.
Alternative A, the no action alternative, would continue the current BLM management in the planning area comprising over 25 million acres of lands administered by BLM, other federal agencies, Tribes, the states of Colorado and Utah, local governments and private ownership.
Alternative B would prioritize removing threats to the bird within occupied and unoccupied areas and includes a 4-mile buffer around the habitat. Sub-alternative B1 excludes livestock grazing in the Gunnison sage-grouse habitat.
Alternative C would achieve the purpose of the draft RMP by “minimizing, avoiding, or compensating for impacts from resource uses and activities in occupied and unoccupied habitat.” Under this alternative, resource uses and other actions would be allowed if impacts to the sage grouse could be avoided or minimized.
Alternative D, BLM’s preferred alternative, would also achieve the purpose of the RMP, but would “allocate resource uses and resource values while sustaining and enhancing ecological integrity.” Conservation measures are based on the latest available science and focus on occupied and unoccupied habitat and include a 1-mile buffer around habitat and could include establishing linkage-connectivity areas.
Alternative E expands management direction for resources and direction not addressed in the Candidate Conservation Agreement (CCA) for the Gunnison Basin population and includes buffers for some resources.
Grazing impacts
According to BLM, the agency administers 16 grazing allotments encompassing 375,900 acres of public land within the decision area. BLM grazing allotments within the decision area range in size from 300 acres to approximately 40,000 acres. A total of 186,080 animal unit months (AUMs) are currently authorized across the decision area.
Under Alternative A, grazing would be unaffected.
Alternative B is the most restrictive for livestock grazing. In addition to retiring grazing allotments under Sub-alternative B1, under Alternative B2, occupied habitat management areas (OHMA) would be unavailable for livestock grazing between March 1 and July 15 for the life of the RMP amendment. Livestock grazing would continue to be authorized in OHMA between July 16 and February 28.
A minor increase in allotment availability and AUMs would be allowed under Alternative C. Season of use restrictions on permitted livestock use would only be applied if the allotment does not meet land health standards. Livestock crossing/trailing permits through OHMA would be authorized on existing approved routes.
Actions proposed under Alternative D are generally the same as Alternative C.
The effects of Alternative E on livestock grazing would be similar to those under Alternatives C and D but would only occur in the Gunnison Basin. Under Alternative E, allotments that meet CCA management guidelines and livestock grazing is managed in riparian to improve habitat would continue to be allowed.
Objections
Environmental groups said BLM’s preferred alternative does not do enough to protect the habitat of the sage grouse, and the strategies have been discredited by sage grouse science. They continued the preferred alternative offers less protection than the Greater sage-grouse plan, and livestock grazing and energy extraction should be off limits.
“The agency’s preferred alternative is surprisingly weak, and in some cases doesn’t measure up to the habitat protections that already apply for the unlisted greater sage-grouse,” said Erik Molvar, executive director with Western Watersheds Project. “The agency’s preferred plan is going to need a major overhaul, strengthening protections on issues including livestock grazing, road construction, and energy development, if the federal government is to do its part to help restore Gunnison sage-grouse to the healthy and abundant populations necessary for the full recovery of the species.”
Comment period
BLM is accepting written comments on the draft RMP/EIS through Feb. 6, 2024. Comments can be made on BLM’s website at tinyurl.com/5n7m9tr9 through the “Participate Now” option. They can also be mailed to BLM Southwest District Office, ATTN: GUSG RMPA, 2465 S. Townsend Ave, Montrose, CO 81401. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
