News Release

 

For Release: Sept. 5, 2003

Contact: Jeff Fontana (530) 252-5332

CA-N-03-88

 

 

BLM advisory council to discuss grazing management

Potential changes in Bureau of Land Management livestock grazing policies will be the subject of a public meeting to be hosted by the BLM's Northeast California Resource Advisory Council on Friday, Sept. 26, at the BLM Eagle Lake Field Office, 2950 Riverside Dr., Susanville.

The session begins at 9 a.m. in the Conference Room of the BLM office. After an overview presentation and council discussions, public comments on the grazing management concepts will be accepted at 1 p.m.

Following the grazing management discussions, the council will hear updates on development of new land use plans for northeast California field office jurisdictions, and hear a report on BLM's development of a national sage grouse conservation strategy.

The BLM announced last spring that it would consider both regulatory and non-regulatory changes to its grazing policies. The ideas under consideration seek to provide more management flexibility and promote innovative partnerships so that resource managers, ranchers, conservationists and others can achieve healthier Western rangelands.

BLM Director Kathleen Clarke has asked the agency's citizen Resource Advisory Councils across the West to review and comment on the concepts under consideration, and to hold public meetings to solicit public opinions. The BLM will use input from the advisory council public meetings in determining its next steps on any non-regulatory policy changes.

The policy changes under consideration comprise what the BLM is calling its "Sustaining Working Landscapes" initiative. By "working landscapes," the BLM means landscapes on the public lands that are economically productive and environmentally healthy.

The Northeast California Resource Advisory Council is a 15-member board of northern California residents who represent a broad diversity of public lands interests. Members represent livestock permit holders, timber interests, recreation users, environmental groups, off-highway vehicle interests, local government, tribal interests and the public at large. They provide advice to the Secretary of the Interior, working closely with managers of the BLM's Alturas, Eagle Lake and Surprise field offices, and the BLM California state director.

For more information on the meeting, contact BLM Public Affairs Officer Jeff Fontana at (530) 252-5332.

-BLM-

Northern California Support Team

2950 Riverside Drive

Susanville, CA  96130