< All Press Releases

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released the Northern Great Basin Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (REA), which summarizes ecological conditions of the Northern Basin and Range and Snake River Plain Ecoregions. The Northern Great Basin REA spans portions of Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, California and Utah. This REA has an area of 75,708 square miles and includes land managed by 24 BLM field offices.REAs use existing scientific information to identify resource conditions and trends within an ecoregion, which transcends traditional administrative boundaries. This large-scale approach can help land managers and stakeholders assess current resource conditions at an ecoregional scale. The REAs provide science-based information and tools for land managers and stakeholders to consider in subsequent resource planning and decision-making processes, such as resource management plans and environmental impact statements.The REAs themselves do not contain findings and recommendations, nor do they make management decisions or allocate resource uses. The information, maps and tools provided by the REAs will inform restoration strategies and strengthen BLM’s analyses of the projected and cumulative effects of various management alternatives to be developed in the future.REAs are prepared in cooperation with other federal and state land management agencies, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of the Interior’s lead science agency. These REAs integrate interagency and public data, creating a broad assessment of ecological conditions, trends and risks on public lands managed by the BLM in these areas. They identify important habitats for fish, wildlife and other species of concern. For example, REAs help identify areas that are less ecologically intact or readily restorable, and where development activities may be directed to minimize potential environmental impacts. REAs also gauge the potential of these habitats to be affected by four overarching environmental change agents: climate change, wildfires, invasive species, and urban and energy development. In contrast to more traditional BLM assessments, REAs do not assess the conditions of specific areas at a fine scale, such as individual grazing allotments, nor do they describe desired future conditions.The BLM works at all levels of the agency and with its many partners who participated in developing these REAs to ensure that this information is used as the BLM develops management strategies to deal with broad-scale issues. The BLM is aware that other groups, such as the Western Governors’ Association, are working on similar broad-scale assessments and encourages users of the REAs to consider the results of these other assessments as well.The Northern Great Basin REA is available online. For more information on these assessments, please contact Bruce Sillitoe at the BLM Salt Lake Field Office: (801)977-4342 or bsillitoe@blm.gov. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to leave a message or question for the above individual. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Replies are provided during normal business hours.