As part of a national strategy to evaluate greater sage-grouse conservation measures in land use plans, the BLM Lewistown Field Office is asking the public to help identify issues to be addressed in an environmental impact statement and land use plan amendment. A scoping open house will be held January 10, 2012, at the Yogo Inn in Lewistown from 5 to 8 p.m. Members of the public can drop into the open house at any time between those hours. A short overview of the sage-grouse planning strategy will be presented at 5, 6, and 7 p.m.

The Lewistown Field Office will be amending the Judith Valley Phillips Resource Management Plan to apply greater sage-grouse habitat conservation measures to land use activities.

Based on ongoing threats to the greater sage-grouse and its habitat throughout the West, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2015 deadline for making a decision whether to list the species under the Endangered Species Act, the BLM will be incorporating consistent objectives and conservation measures into relevant resource management plans by September 2014.

For those unable to attend the scoping meeting, scoping comments may be submitted by a variety of methods. More information on how to submit comments can be found at http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/prog/wildlife/mtdksplanning.html.

The scoping period began December 9 and ends February 7, 2012.

For more information on the scoping process and greater sage-grouse habitat conservation measures, visit the BLM’s greater sage-grouse website at http://www.blm.gov/sagegrouse.