BLM: National Forests Added and Comment Period Formally Extended on Planning for Sage-Grouse Conservation Measures

In cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will issue a corrected Notice of Intent to address sage-grouse in 10 additional National Forest System Lands and Resource Management Plans and formally extended the comment period through March 23, 2012.  The notice will appear in the February 10, 2012, Federal Register.

The BLM and the Forest Service are seeking public comment on issues that should be addressed in Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and Supplemental Environmental Impact Statements (SEIS) that will evaluate and provide greater sage-grouse conservation measures in land use plans in 10 Western states. This notice extends the time period for public comment on the scoping process for the EIS/SEIS through March 23, 2012.

 The EIS/SEIS will be coordinated under two regions: The Rocky Mountain Region, previously designated as the Eastern Region, which includes land use plans in the states of Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and portions of Utah and Montana; and the Great Basin Region, previously designated as the Western Region, which includes land use plans in northeastern California, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and portions of Utah and Montana. Within the Rocky Mountain Region, the potentially affected National Forest System Land Management Plans include:

• Colorado’s Routt National Forest
• Wyoming’s Thunder Basin National Grassland, Medicine Bow National Forest and the Bridger-Tetons National Forest.

Within the Great Basin Region, the affected Land Management Plans include:

• Idaho’s Boise National Forest, Salmon National Forest, Challis National Forest, Targhee National Forest, Caribou National Forest and the Curlew National Grassland;
• Montana’s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest;
• Nevada’s Humboldt and Toiyabe National Forests;
• Utah’s Ashley National Forest, Manti-LaSal National Forest, Wasatch Cache National Forest, Uinta National Forest, Dixie National Forest and the Fishlake National Forest.

The BLM and the Forest Service aim to incorporate conservation measures into all affected Land Management Plans by September 2014 in order to make the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) timeline for making a listing decision on this species. As a result, the accompanying EIS’s/SEIS’s will be conducted under expedited timeframes. 

All comments and submissions to be considered for the environmental analysis process must be received by the BLM by close of business on March 23, 2012.
 Comments may be made to the by any of the following methods:

• Rocky Mountain Region
  
  • web site: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/sagegrouse/eastern.html
  • email: sageeast@blm.gov
  • fax: 307-775-6042
  • mail: Rocky Mountain Region Project Manager, BLM Wyoming State Office, 5353 Yellowstone, Cheyenne, WY 82009
    
• Great Basin Region

o   web site: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/sagegrouse/western.htmlo   email: sagewest@blm.gov o   fax: 775-861-6747o   mail: Great Basin Region Project Manager, BLM Nevada State Office, 1340 Financial Blvd., Reno, NV  89502For further information or to have your name added to the mailing list, contact: Johanna Munson, Rocky Mountain Region Project Manager, (307) 775-6329; mailing address 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, WY 82009; email jmunson@blm.gov; or Lauren Mermejo, Great Basin Region Project Manager; (775) 861-861-6400; mailing address 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, NV 89520; email lmermejo@blm.gov.