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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Oregon / Washington

Medford Newsroom

Bureau of Land Management offices post News Releases to share news or let you know upcoming plans for their area. If you have questions regarding a specific News Release, contact information is at the top of each News Release. Please feel free to contact the Medford Office with your questions or comments, at (541) 618-2200 or by email.

The BLM in Oregon and Washington recently began offering news releases in the RSS format. This will allow you see a complete and ongoing list of press releases distributed by the various BLM Districts throughout Oregon and Washington. Additional information on RSS feeds, and how to subscribe to them, is available at our RSS page.

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Announcements

BLM Distributes Payments to Counties

Date: 11/25/09

Westside Districts

The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act was reauthorized as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 signed into law in October 2008 (Public Law 110-343). The reauthorized act provides declining payments to 18 westside Oregon Counties from Fiscal Year 2008 through 2011. Eligible counties in Oregon and several other “transition” States will receive declining payments from Fiscal Years 2008 to 2010 based upon their Fiscal Year 2006 payments. Then, in Fiscal Year 2011, counties will receive payments based on a new formula detailed in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The Act included other changes, such as limiting how counties may spend their Title III project funds. The Oregon/Washington BLM made payments to each of the eligible western Oregon counties for Fiscal Year 2009 on November 25, 2009.

Secretary Salazar to Discuss Next Steps for Western Oregon Forest Management

Date: 10/14/09

Forestry Photo

On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar hosted a news media teleconference to discuss a schedule of timber sales on public lands in Western Oregon and initial steps for forest management in the area.

To provide additional certainty to local mills and local communities, the BLM released a list of about 60 proposed timber sales scheduled over the next 12 months. The program of work reflects an interim approach as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife continues to work on refinement of the northern spotted owl recovery plan via a number of technical workgroups.

BLM Prepares for Upcoming Oil and Gas Lease Sale

Date: 3/4/09

Oil and Gas Lease Sale

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon State Office has announced that it will offer four parcels totaling approximately 5,342 acres, in Oregon, at its March 12, 2009 Oil and Gas Lease Competitive Sale. All four parcels to be offered are in Wheeler County near Mitchell, Oregon. The sale will be held at 9:00 AM, Thursday, March 12, at the Robert Duncan Plaza Building, 333 SW 1st Avenue, Portland, Oregon in the 3rd floor conference rooms.

BLM Announces Availability of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Plan

Pilot Rock

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has approved the final plan for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The management plan sets forth the final direction for managing the 52,947 acres of BLM lands for the next ten years. The plan also provides the strategies needed to protect and preserve the biological, cultural, recreational, geological, educational and scientific values within the monument.

The 2000 Presidential Proclamation reserved the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in recognition of its remarkable ecology and to protect a diverse range of biological, geological, aquatic, archeological, and historic objects. The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is the first monument set aside solely for the preservation of biodiversity. Due to several complex biological and geological factors and processes operating simultaneously, the monument contains an unusually high variety of species in a geographically small area.

Land use decisions made in this plan include: land tenure zoning classifications; designations of vegetation management areas; visual resource management classifications; programmatic and site-specific decisions related to livestock grazing; decisions regarding transportation and access (except those mandated by the presidential proclamation); wildland fire management; recreation management; and management of rights-of-way and communication sites.

Otak Reports on Little Hyatt Dam

Livestock Impact Study

BLM to Release Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Livestock Impacts Studies

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Medford District today announced that is has completed the studies of livestock impacts for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (CSNM) and is releasing them to the public. A presentation of the results of the studies will be the subject of the February 1 "Science Friday" forum at the Southern Oregon University (SOU). The one hour presentation will begin at 3pm in Room 118 (Central Auditorium) in the Science Hall on the campus of SOU.

BLM Issues Temporary Off-Highway Vehicle Closure

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Medford District Office is temporarily closing several areas within the Timbered Mountain off-highway vehicle (OHV) area – also commonly referred to as the John's Peak area. The Timber Mountain OHV Area is located just west of the City of Jacksonville. The purpose of the emergency closure is to protect soils, water, and fisheries resources that are being adversely impacted by OHV use. The closure is also needed to protect public safety on Forest Creek County road. Regulations (43 CFR 8364.1) authorize the BLM to close or restrict use of public lands in order to protect public safety and resources on public lands.