Lewistown Field Office
| Contacts: | Willy Frank 406-538-1918 |
BLM Complete Snowies-Little Belts Assessment
The Bureau of Land Management’s Lewistown Field Office (BLM) has completed the final environmental assessment (EA) for the Snowies-Little Belts planning area.
The EA assesses resource conditions on 26,901 acres of BLM-administered public lands encompassing 81 BLM grazing allotments in Fergus and Judith Basin counties. It also identifies and evaluates management actions needed to ensure that rangeland health standards are met, and that livestock grazing practices conform with management guidelines.
Now that the final EA is completed, individual proposed decisions are being issued on each of the 68 grazing permits/leases associated with the 81 allotments. The decisions will result in cancellation of the existing permits/leases and issuance of new 10-year grazing permits/leases. The new permits/leases will be issued with terms and conditions based on the proposed action and will incorporate the standards and guidelines for rangeland health as shown in Appendices B and C of the final EA.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Lewistown Field Office 920 NE Main Street Lewistown, MT 59457