Ukiah RAC

United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Eagle Lake Resource Area
2950 Riverside Drive
Susanville, California 96130

For: BLM's Ukiah Resource Advisory Council

The Ukiah Resource Advisory Council, at its meeting July 24, l997, adopted the following comments to the Bureau of Land Managements draft environmental impact statement on Rangeland Health Standards and Guidelines. The council directed that these comments, numbered 1 and 2, be submitted as part of the public comment on this DEIS:

1. The Ukiah (Northwest California) Resource Advisory Council recommends that the BLM's final environmental impact statement on Standards for Healthy Rangelands and Guidelines for Livestock Grazing contain a monitoring component. This component should provide procedures for BLM managers to track the effectiveness of the Standards and Guidelines in meeting the overall goal of improving the health of rangelands administered by the BLM and sustaining the well being of the communities dependent upon these lands. The BLM should consider the work of the Klamath Province Collaborative Learning Circle in development of a monitoring component. This monitoring component should include ecological, social, cultural and economic considerations.

2. The council notes that Alternative One was developed with the full participation of the resource advisory councils (in California). The fourth alternative lacked the same broad based review. Because the fourth alternative was not developed with the same RAC involvement as the other alternatives, the council recommends that RAC members (in California) have the opportunity to review and modify the proposed fourth alternative in the final EIS should it be considered for adoption.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Joseph J. Fontana
Public Affairs Officer