BLM Issues Addendum to Final Environment Impact Statement
On Proposed Grazing Regulation Changes
The Bureau of Land Management today issued an addendum to its final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on proposed regulations that will
improve the BLM's management of public lands grazing. The addendum and
final EIS, posted on the BLM’s Website, conclude that the proposed
regulations will produce long-term health benefits for public rangelands.
The proposed new grazing regulations, collectively known as a “rule,” will
be finalized in the near future and published in the Federal Register.
“In producing this addendum, the BLM went the extra mile to ensure
full consideration of comments made on the proposed changes to our grazing
regulations,” said BLM Director Kathleen Clarke. “The proposed
new regulations, when finalized and implemented, will enable the BLM
to manage public rangelands more effectively and efficiently through,
among other things, a better working relationship with public lands ranchers.
We have proposed these regulatory changes to promote the long-term health
of public rangelands, which are vital to the economy and social fabric
of Western rural communities.”
The BLM published its proposed grazing rule in December 2003. (For
details on the proposed rule, see http://www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2003/pr031205_grazing.htm.)
The agency followed up with a draft EIS and received more than 18,000
comments on those two documents during its public comment period. The
BLM published its final EIS in June 2005 (see http://www.blm.gov/grazing),
after which the agency announced that it would prepare an additional
document to respond to comments that came in after the March 2, 2004,
comment deadline.
The BLM manages more land – 261 million surface acres – than
any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western
states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1.8 billion,
also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout
the nation. The agency’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 BLM 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.
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