BLM to hold virtual and in-person public meetings on Greater sage-grouse management

BILLINGS, Mont.— The Bureau of Land Management is holding eleven in-person open-house meetings throughout the west to provide information on the BLM’s current greater sage-grouse planning effort. The first of these meetings is scheduled for Thursday, April 11 at 6 p.m. MDT at the BLM Montana/Dakotas State Office main conference room at 5001 Southgate Drive in Billings.

These meetings will include a presentation on the planning effort and opportunities for questions about the planning effort and the Draft Resource Management Plan Amendments/Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The BLM will also hold two virtual meetings online on Tuesday, April 9 at 1 p.m. MDT and Thursday, April 25 at 6 p.m. MDT. Register for one or both sessions on Zoom. For more information on additional meetings and the planning effort see the BLM website.

The draft environmental impact statement and draft plan amendments opened for public comment on March 15, 2024. The comment period will end on June 13, 2024. Visit the Greater Sage-grouse Land Use Plan Amendment’s ePlanning website to learn more information about the draft Environmental Impact Statement and on how to submit a comment. A final environmental impact statement is expected this fall, followed by Records of Decision in each state. 

The greater sage-grouse is in sharp decline. Populations once in the millions now number fewer than 800,000, largely due to habitat loss exacerbated by climate change effects, such as drought, increasing wildfires and the spread of invasive species. The BLM’s proposal to strengthen greater sage-grouse protections on public lands are informed by the best-available science and input from local, state and federal partners, as well as the BLM’s experience implementing sage-grouse habitat conservation and management through local collaboratives.