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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Oregon / Washington

Newsroom

News Releases

Bureau of Land Management offices post News Releases to share news or let you know upcoming plans for their area. Below are the ten most recent news releases sorted by date. 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 OR/WA Office of Public Affairs with your questions or comments, at 503-808-6002 or by email.

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News Release Archive >>

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Latest News Releases
Feb 10 2012Bob Abbey Joins Twitter, BLM Releases New Media Strategy
Feb 09 2012Resource Advisory Council Meeting in Pendleton
Feb 08 2012BLM Initiates Planning For Hardrock Geological Prospecting
Feb 07 2012Comment Period for Greater Sage-Grouse Scoping Extended
Feb 02 2012Seasonal Wildlife Closures in Place on Prineville District BLM

Current Announcements

Announcement Archive
Prospecting

BLM Initiates Planning For Hardrock Geological Prospecting

Date: 02/08/12

The Bureau of Land Management announced that it is beginning the process to evaluate an exploration plan for hardrock geological prospecting northeast of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument (NVM). Beginning in March 2011, Ascot Resources Ltd. (Ascot)—a Vancouver, B.C.-based company incorporated in the State of Washington as Ascot USA Inc.—applied for two prospecting permits.

The BLM will hold two public open houses to determine the nature and range of issues to be addressed in the environmental assessment, including alternatives: Longview—February 15; and Morton—February 16.

Secure Rural Schools

BLM Distributes Final Payments to Counties

Date: 01/20/12

The BLM announced today that it has issued payment to 18 counties in western Oregon eligible under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act extension (Public Law 110-343). The amount paid to the Oregon & California (O&C) counties was $40,037,160.

Secure Rural Schools

BLM Releases 2011 Secure Rural Schools Estimates

Date: 10/26/11

The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (Public Law 110-343) provided transition payments to the 18 western Oregon O&C counties through Fiscal Year 2010 and established another formula for calculating O&C county payments for Fiscal Year 2011. In developing the estimate for the Fiscal Year 2011 payment under the other formula, the BLM found an error in its preliminary calculations. The correct estimate was published in the President's Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Justifications submitted to the Congress in March 2011. The final FY2012 Secure Rural Schools payment will be later than those in 2008–2010. Because this will be the first Secure Rural Schools payment under the "new" formula detailed in the Act, a new procedure affects the timing of the payments. The BLM now relies on the final Forest Service payment calculation, and the Forest Service will not have their figures available until mid-December. Therefore, the earliest the BLM payments can be distributed will be at the end of December.

Date: 09/22/11

Soda Mountain Wilderness Plan Open for Public Comment

Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the public comment period for the draft Stewardship Plan and Environmental Assessment for the recently created Soda Mountain Wilderness Area in southern Oregon. The Soda Mountain Wilderness was created in March 2009 under the Omnibus Public Lands Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-011). The law designated approximately 24,100 acres within the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument as wilderness.

Date: 09/21/11

Interior Conservation Awards to BLM-Led Partnerships

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar presented his "Partners in Conservation" Awards to a number of outstanding conservation partnerships at a ceremony on September 21, 2011. The awardees included four BLM-coordinated partnerships: Oregon's Jefferson Conservation Corps; the Gila Watershed Partnership of Arizona; New Mexico's Permian Basin Memorandum of Agreement Program; and the nationwide Project Archaeology program.

A video profile about the Jefferson Conservation Corps is available on YouTube at:

In addition, an article about the Jefferson Conservation Corps is available in winter 2010 issue of BLM's magazine, NW Passage:

North America's Earliest Beaver Discovered in Oregon
North America's Earliest Beaver Discovered in Oregon

Date: 09/16/11

North America's Earliest Beaver Discovered in Oregon

A new fossil find represents the earliest record of living beavers (Castor) in North America. A pair of teeth was found on Bureau of Land Management land near Dayville, Oregon. These teeth come from the Rattlesnake Formation and are between 7 and 7.3 million years old.

The specimens will be going on display in the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center, at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The new find is described in an article appearing in the current issue of the Journal of Paleontology.

BLM Land Ownership
BLM Socioeconomic Impacts

Date: 08/23/11

Socioeconomic Impacts of the BLM

The BLM has the privilege of protecting and maintaining some of the Nation's most unique treasures. We manage over 15.7 million acres of public land in Oregon, and approximately 436,000 acres in Washington, together with some 23.4 million acres of federal subsurface minerals. The BLM lands provide for a variety of multiple uses throughout the Northwest, all of which contribute to the well-being of local communities through economic activities, social contributions, and land stewardship programs. Take a look around at these socio-economic contributions; we think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Sage-Grouse

BLM Announces Strategy to Conserve Sage-Grouse and Protect Habitat

Date: 07/21/11

In response to requests from state and local governments to facilitate ways to conserve greater sage-grouse and protect its habitat, BLM scientists and managers met with state wildlife management officials July 16, 2011 to brief them on the agency’s National Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy. The meeting took place at the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The BLM strategy emphasizes a cooperative approach and provides a framework to advance efforts to implement timely conservation measures for sage-grouse and its habitat.

West Butte Wind Power Right of Way Final EIS
West Butte Wind Power Right of Way Final EIS

Secretary Salazar Approves West Butte Wind Power Project

Date: 07/14/11

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved the decision to authorize a road and transmission line right of way across Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-administered lands associated with the West Butte Wind Power Project. This right of way authorization will provide access to private land for the purpose of constructing and operating a 104-megawatt wind turbine facility. Between 34 and 52 wind turbines are proposed for installation on private land and they are capable of producing enough energy to power 50,000 homes.

Van Dyke's Salamander

Survey and Manage Settlement Agreement

Date: 07/7/11

The BLM and U.S. Forest Service have reached a final settlement with plaintiffs on the terms and conditions of the Survey and Manage litigation. The terms of the final settlement agreement include:

  • Maintaining the "Pechman Exemptions," which exempt certain projects from pre-disturbance surveys and known site management;
  • A revised species list that reflects agreements about which species continue to need the protections of the survey and manage mitigation measure;
  • Establishing new exemption categories that emphasize restoration activities; and
  • Reinstating the 2001 Record or Decision (ROD) and setting aside the 2007 RODs.

View the final settment agreement here.
Additional information about the Survey and Manage program.