Direction was issued on September 21, 2001 (Forest Service [FS] correspondence 2630; Bureau of Land Management [BLM] Information Bulletin No. OR-2001-273), for Category C and D species describing a four-step process that allows local land managers to identify non-high priority sites on a case-by-case basis (see Attachment 3). Non-high priority sites are those sites not needing site management to maintain persistence of the species. The four-step process for identification of non-high priority sites consists of: 1) contacting and receiving guidance from the Survey and Manage Program Manager; 2) obtaining local interagency concurrence (BLM, FS, and Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS]); 3) documenting the consideration of the condition of the species on other administrative units; and 4) identifying non-high priority sites in the Interagency Species Management System (ISMS). The four-step process is considered an interim guideline to be used until a Management Recommendation that identifies high priority sites is completed.

The attached document supplements the September 21, 2001, direction by programmatically identifying some red tree vole sites within Matrix, Adaptive Management Areas (AMAs), and Matrix/Riparian or AMA/Riparian Land Use Allocations in the pilot area as non-high priority. (Please see Attachment 2 for a map of the pilot area). The pilot area was identified as a focal area due to the relatively high amount of older forest, the range of land ownership and reserve patterns, current and historical information regarding occurrence and distribution of the species, the range of elevations represented, and vegetation data available for habitat analysis.

Sites meeting any one of the five criteria listed in Attachment 1 can be considered non-high priority sites and can be released for other management priorities. Known sites that do not meet any of the criteria for non-high priority site identification in this programmatic process may still be considered for non-high priority site designation using the original direction issued on September 21, 2001.

This supplemental document programmatically addresses all four steps of the non-high priority site identification process, providing a framework of analysis at a broader spatial scale than can be completed at the administrative unit level. Step 2, interagency concurrence, is completed. Steps 1, 3, and 4 require additional administrative unit analysis and documentation.

Step 1: To complete step 1, contact the Program Manager, Terry Brumley, to alert him that the field unit is undertaking the analysis outlined in Attachment 1. Call or e-mail Terry to share your intent.

Step 2: For step 2, interagency concurrence has already been completed through the review and approval of the programmatic process by the Intermediate Managers’ Group (consisting of BLM, FS, Pacific Northwest Research Station, and FWS personnel). Field units do not need to do any additional work for this step.

Step 3: To satisfy step 3, evaluate your red tree vole survey information following the process described in Attachment 1. When the analysis is complete, submit Table 3 to the Program Manager. The narrative provided in Appendix B of Attachment 1 adequately documents the consideration of the condition of the species on all of the administrative units covered under the pilot area, and no further documentation of this by the field unit is required.

Step 4: To complete the fourth step, field units should disclose through project-specific National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation those sites determined to be non-high priority. (Sites shall be managed as high-priority sites until NEPA documentation which discloses the sites as non-high priority is completed.) When NEPA documentation denoting non-high priority sites is completed, enter these sites in the ISMS database as non-high priority. Make this documentation in the appropriate ISMS field.

Following the above four steps constitutes field unit completion of the non-high priority site determination process.

Appendix A in Attachment 1 outlines whether to manage sites found incidentally; either in areas not requiring pre-disturbance surveys (Category D areas) or sites found after pre-disturbance surveys have been completed (in Category C areas). Options on management of the site are dependent upon when in the NEPA process the site is found, as well as whether the site is found in a high, medium, or low reserve watershed.

Appendix B in the attachment describes site characteristics used by the High Priority Site Team in non-high priority site identification and denotes the current information and understanding of the habitat and occurrence of the species on the administrative units covered under the pilot area. Field units may find this information useful when analyzing and preparing documentation for identification of non-high priority sites not meeting the evaluation criteria in this programmatic process.

All sites found in the future within the pilot area may follow the guidance in this programmatic document to help determine if the site can be identified as non-high priority.

Questions regarding implementation of this programmatic process should be directed to taxa lead Laura Finley (laura_finley@fws.gov, 530-842-5763); BLM agency representative Rob Huff (rob_huff@blm.gov, 503-808-6479); or FS R6 agency representative Carol Hughes (cshughes@fs.fed.us, 503-808-2661).

United States Department of Agriculture	Forest Service	R-6	OR/WA	Bureau of Land Management	United States Department of Interior

FS-Memorandum		EMS TRANSMISSION 04/23/2003 BLM-Instruction Memorandum No. OR-2003-062 Expires: 09/30/2004

To:	Bureau of Land Management District Managers (Coos Bay, Eugene, Roseburg) and Forest Service Supervisors (Umpqua, Willamette, Siuslaw)

Subject:	Supplemental Direction for Identification of Non-High Priority Sites for Red Tree Vole Within the "Pilot" Area

3 Attachments
	1 - Process for Determination of Red Tree Vole Sites as Non-High Priority Sites Within the "Pilot" Area (15 pp) [PDF -- also available in MS Word Version]
	2 - Map of Pilot Area (1p)
	3 - BLM Information Bulletin No. OR-2001-273 (Outlining Process for Identification of Non-High Priority Sites) (7pp) [also available in PDF Version or MS Word Version -- NOTE: Many of the "bullets" in the PDF Version did not convert cleanly from the MS Word Original, and appear as question marks (?) in the PDF Version. This is the only difference between the two documents, as far as we know.]