What is the BLM National Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy?
The BLM National Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy provides a coordinated, cooperative stakeholder team approach to incorporate regionally appropriate, science-based conservation measures into BLM land-use planning efforts throughout the range of the greater sage-grouse.
Greater sage-grouse benefit from, and make use of, suitable habitat—regardless of land ownership and
management responsibility, so the BLM planning strategy uses an open and collaborative approach to foster cooperative conservation efforts across the regions and states that make up the greater sage-grouse range.
The planning strategy illustrates the BLM’s continued commitment to long-term, range-wide sage-grouse conservation and habitat restoration and acknowledges the added value of engaging all stakeholders and governmental partners in cooperative conservation efforts.
Why is a new planning approach needed?
In April 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined that the greater sage-grouse warranted protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but that listing the species was precluded by the need to address other, higher-priority species first. One reason for the FWS decision was an identified need for “improved regulatory mechanisms” to ensure species conservation. The principal regulatory mechanisms for BLM are Resource Management Plans (RMPs).
The FWS greater sage-grouse decision placed the species on the candidate list for future regulatory action, which provided stakeholders such as federal agencies, states, tribes and private landowners with additional opportunities to continue working cooperatively to conserve the species and restore its habitat. BLM is also using this opportunity to develop long-term conservation and habitat restoration measures and actions for the species on the National System of Public Lands.
What does the new planning strategy do to advance the BLM’s efforts to improve and protect greater sage grouse habitat and populations? The new planning strategy:
- Creates a range-wide approach that allows for improved collaboration and coordination, and addresses eco-regional differences by dividing the existing sage-grouse range into a Rocky Mountain Region and a Great Basin Region. The Rocky Mountain Region will include Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, northeastern Utah, and Wyoming, where major sage-grouse threats include habitat loss and fragmentation due to energy development—both from oil and gas and renewable energy projects. The Great Basin Region will include northeastern California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and most of Utah, with a small portion of southwestern Montana where major sage-grouse threats include wildfire, habitat loss due to invasive plant species, and habitat fragmentation.
- Creates several governance teams to ensure ongoing coordination and oversight, both regionally and nationally, using an interagency and multi-state approach that engages all stakeholders.
What does BLM hope to achieve by implementing the National Greater Sage Grouse planning strategy?
Through the strategy’s planning process, BLM hopes to strike the appropriate balance of resource uses and resource conservation to ensure the short and long-term sustainability of greater sage grouse habitat and populations. BLM will incorporate consistent conservation measures as land use planning decisions into all of its RMPs covering occupied greater sage grouse habitat. These decisions may take the form of prescriptions for resource uses to determinations of the types of resource uses that are appropriate within greater sage grouse habitat.
Who will be guiding development of this policy?
- A National Policy Team will provide national policy guidance on sage-grouse conservation and consistent planning objectives.
- A National Technical Team (NTT) will use the best science available to derive recommended conservation measures.
- Two Regional Management Teams (RMTs) will coordinate planning and strategy implementation efforts across the states and provide direction at specific points to ensure consistency.
- Two Regional Interdisciplinary Teams (RIDTs) will coordinate development of EISs and RMP amendments using policy guidance provided by the National Policy Team.
- Sub-regional Interdisciplinary Teams (SIDTs) will conduct the required environmental analyses to transform goals and objectives into regulatory mechanisms for greater sage-grouse conservation.
Most of these teams include representatives from other federal and state agencies.
Who are you working with?
We have been working with multiple Federal, State and Tribal agencies; organizations; educational and research institutions and committed individuals to develop our sage-grouse conservation efforts. They include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service, Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) and many local working groups.
Given the tight time frames in which the Fish and Wildlife Service must make its listing decision, it’s crucial that we get this done right and done quickly. The BLM already has established the multiple teams necessary to guide this complex process to completion. We plan to issue interim management guidance in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2012. We also plan to formally publish our notice of intent to amend our land use plans in the Federal Register in the same time period. Shortly thereafter, we will begin an active public involvement process to solicit input on potential science-based management actions we should be considering as we look at amending our RMPs. By the second quarter of Fiscal year 2013, we will publish the draft Environmental Impact Statement needed to amend our RMPs for public comment. All of the public involvement will culminate with revised or amended RMPs and publication of several Final Environmental Impact Statements within the two regions in 2014.
What are you doing to protect sage-grouse and their habitat in the interim?
While this extensive planning process is underway, the BLM also is developing conservation measures and policy recommendations for the interim protection of sagebrush habitat. These measures will help BLM offices determine whether to authorize or continue certain activities in greater sage-grouse habitat. They are designed to ensure that greater sage-grouse populations and habitats are maintained or improved and that habitat loss is minimized.
How does BLM’s approach to sage-grouse conservation align public land management with private land conservation benefits provided by NRCS’s Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI)?
BLM’s new policy facilitates closer integration of sage grouse conservation between these two Federal Agencies The sage-grouse Breeding Bird Density maps, produced by BLM, provide NRCS with an efficient mechanism for targeting Farm Bill resources to benefit birds through the USDA’s Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI).. Although most of the Sage Grouse Initiative funds are invested on private lands, they can also be used to implement conservation measures on BLM’s public grazing lands. Match requirements that can be paid by Non-Governmental Organizations, provide yet another innovative opportunity to expand partnerships regardless of ownership. Working proactively, regardless of administrative boundaries, will result in conservation to benefit sage-grouse across their range.
What about the two sub-populations, the Washington State Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and “bi-state” DPS, of the Greater Sage-grouse? Will they be included in this new Strategy?
No. Sage grouse in Washington have been managed under a specific Washington Greater Sage-Grouse Recovery Plan since 2004. BLM has limited involvement in the Washington State DPS and only manages about 5 percent of the remaining habitat for this population. The “bi-state” DPS exists in a small area in California and Nevada. It is being addressed by the FWS with different timeframes and processes.
Is the Gunnison sage-grouse a part of this planning strategy?
No. The Gunnison sage-grouse is not included in this National Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy. It is a separate species. The Gunnison sage-grouse is being addressed by the Rangewide Conservation Plan (RCP) developed by an interagency steering committee and signed in April 2005. It includes a suite of conservation strategies designed to address localized and range-wide threats to the species, and has been used to help design projects and management strategies within its habitat.
Does hunting Sage-grouse pose a threat to the species? In its March 2010 warranted but precluded finding on listing the Greater Sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) specifically looked at the threats to the species posed by hunting. The FWS found that “In the United States, sage-grouse hunting is regulated by State wildlife agencies and hunting regulations are reevaluated yearly. … We have no evidence suggesting that gun and bow sport hunting has been a primary cause of range-wide declines of the greater sage-grouse in the past, or that it currently is at a level that poses a significant threat to the species. … continued close attention will be needed by States and tribes to carefully manage hunting mortality, including adjusting seasons and allowable harvest levels, and imposing emergency closures if needed. In sum, we find that this threat is not significant to the species such that it causes the species to warrant listing under the Act.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service identified wildland fire as one of the major threats to the greater sage-grouse. What is the BLM doing about wildland fire in greater sage-grouse habitat?
Wildfires are a leading cause of sagebrush habitat loss, and the BLM is addressing the effects of wildland fire on sage-grouse habitat by taking appropriate action before and during wildfires. BLM’s aim is to limit the damage from unwanted wildfires in sagebrush habitat by thorough planning before a fire, prompt action during the fire, and effective rehabilitation of a burned area after the fire. To learn more about what BLM is doing to address wildfire in greater sage-grouse habitat, click here. For more details on BLM’s wildland firefighting policy in greater sage-grouse habitat, read our Instructional Memorandum here.
What is the National Technical Team Report?
As part of its greater sage-grouse conservation efforts, the BLM convened a National Technical Team (NTT). This team was composed of representatives from the BLM, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and State Fish and Wildlife agencies. The team was charged with ensuring that the relevant science on greater sage-grouse conservation was considered, reasonably interpreted and accurately presented, with risks and uncertainties clearly delineated; providing conservation objectives in measurable terms to guide planning; and identifying science-based conservation measures.
The NTT prepared a report which fulfilled this charge at the end of calendar year 2011. The report and its associated conservation measures are not intended to create a standard for sage grouse management. Rather the goal of the report is to provide a resource for BLM and U.S. Forest Service field personnel to use, as appropriate, in addressing on-the-ground conditions through the planning process.
How are the BLM and the Forest Service using the NTT Report?
The BLM released the NTTs report to its State and Field Offices along with instructions that clarify how to address the Report's conservation measures in the Bureau's land use planning process. The Forest Service is issuing similar instructions.
These instructions establish consistent protection measures for the species and its habitat that will be analyzed in one or more alternatives in the Environmental Impact Statements that will be used to amend the BLM’s Resource Management Plans and the Forest Service’s Land and Resource Management Plans.
Sage-grouse range across eleven western states and the specific habitat conditions as well as threats to the habitat vary significantly across that range. The NTT report made general recommendations about sage-grouse habitat, based on the best available science, recognizing that land managers and biologists will have to tailor decisions protective of sage-grouse to the specific habitat conditions and circumstances in their area. Therefore, we anticipate that BLM and Forest Service personnel will make appropriate adjustments to address regional and local ecological variability with robust justifications for measures that vary from the NTT recommendations. While the report's goals and objectives provide a general guiding philosophy, each planning effort will identify goals and objectives specific to each distinct planning area.
How are the BLM and Forest Service ensuring that the NTT Report is consistently applied and interpreted?
In order to ensure that our employees and partners consistently interpret the report, the BLM has hosted several internal training sessions and meetings. It is also hosted a webinar on April 17, 2012, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service to clarify the NTT report and provide information on other critical coordination aspects of this significant planning effort.
The BLM believes that no single set of conservation objectives will apply across the entire multi-state range, or even within the area of a single state. Greater Sage-grouse conservation needs to occur on a local scale supported by the best available science.
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