National Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring, and Evaluation Report

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240

http://www.blm.gov

February 7, 2018

In Reply Refer To:

4100, 4180, 4400, 6500, 6600, 7100, 7200 (200) P

EMS TRANSMISSION 03/07/2018

Instruction Memorandum No. 2018-040

Expires:  09/30/2018

To:                              All State Directors (except Alaska and Eastern States)

From:                         Assistant Director, Resources & Planning

Subject:                     National Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring, and Evaluation Report                  DD: 03/30/2018

Program Areas:  Rangeland Management; Standards and Guidelines for Grazing Administration; Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring, and Evaluation (RIME); Wildlife Management; Fish, Wildlife, and Special Status Plant Resources Inventory and Monitoring; Soil Resource Management; Water Resources

Purpose:  For the Washington Office Division of Forest, Rangeland, Riparian, and Plant Conservation (WO-220) to collect data for the fiscal year (FY) 2017 RIME Report.

Policy/Action:  The RIME report must be completed according to policy contained in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Handbook H-4400-1 (Release 4-98 and 4-100), the BLM Handbook H-4180-1 (Release 4-107, dated January 19, 2001), and Instruction Memorandum WO 2012-124 Implementation of Land Health Reporting Data Standard: A New Standardized System for Reporting and Mapping Achievements in Land Health.

The RIME report contains seven tables.  However, the field office (FO) and state office (SO) will only need to supply data for Tables 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7.  

• For part of Table 1, Ecological Site Inventory, data relative to acres inventoried during FY 2017 will be collected from the Management Information System (MIS).  
• For Table 2A, Rangeland Inventories, the total acres available to be inventoried and the ephemeral acres will be obtained from the Rangeland Administration System (RAS).  
• Table 3 contains data on monitored rangeland trend.  
• Table 5 contains information on allotment monitoring.  
• Information needed to complete Tables 4 and 6 will be obtained from the RAS.  

For this RIME report, there are two versions of Table 7.  

• Attachment 1 Table 7 contains data on achievements and non-achievements of the BLM’s Fundamentals of Land Health.  
• Attachment 2 Table 7 reports data by allotment, in the same manner as the pre-2013 RIME Table 7.  Attachment 2 Table 7 only needs to report information for land health evaluations completed during FY 2017.  

In summary, the FO and SO will only need to submit data for some of Table 1, most of Table 2A, and all of Tables 2B, 3, 5, and 7 in Attachment 1, and for land health evaluations completed in FY 2017 on Table 7 in Attachment 2.

To assist in compiling the FY 2017 RIME report, RIME Report Tables for the FO and SO use are attached to this Instruction Memorandum.  State Rangeland Management Program Leads or State Inventory and Monitoring Leads will need to consolidate the FO data into the RIME Report Tables in Attachments 1 and 2, and email the completed RIME Report Tables to Mike “Sherm” Karl at mkarl@blm.gov.

Timeframe: This Instruction Memorandum (IM) is effective immediately.  The due date for state submissions is March 30, 2018.

Budget Impact: There is no increased workload anticipated with implementing the reporting of the Fundamentals of Land Health.  The workload is comparable with reports compiled since FY 2013.  

Background: State Directors are responsible for providing annual reports for rangeland inventory, range condition and trend, and monitoring.  The required information provided by the states is used for reporting range condition in Public Land Statistics, reporting Department of the Interior Performance Measures, responding to public inquiries, satisfying requirements of the Public Rangelands Improvement Act to maintain a current inventory of range condition and trend, and analyzing and identifying monitoring workloads.  The RIME report provides these reports and information needs.

Directives Affected: The BLM Handbook H-4400-1 (Release 4-98 and 4-100), the BLM Manual Handbook H-4180-1 (Release 1-107, dated January 19, 2001), and Instruction Memorandum WO 2012-124.

Coordination: Preparation of this IM was coordinated with State Rangeland Management Program Leads and State Inventory and Monitoring Leads.

Contact: If you have questions regarding this IM, contact Mike “Sherm” Karl, Rangeland Inventory and Monitoring Specialist, Division of Resource Services, National Operations Center, at 303-236-0166, or mkarl@blm.gov; or Maggie Marston, Rangeland Management Specialist, Division of Forest, Rangeland, Riparian, and Plant Conservation, WO-220, at 202-912-7444 or mmarston@blm.gov.

Signed by:                                             Authenticated by:

Kristin Bail                                           Robert M. Williams

Assistant Director                                 Division of IT Policy and Planning, WO-870

Resources and Planning

2 Attachments

   1 – RIME Report Tables 

   2 – Table 7 Information for FY 2017 Land Health Evaluations