Secretarial Order 3362: Site-specific Management Activities to Conserve or Restore Big Game Habitat
United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Washington, DC 20240
November 15, 2018
In Reply Refer To:
6500(230) P
EMS TRANSMISSION 11/16/2018
Information Bulletin No. 2019-005
To: All Field Officials
From: Assistant Director, Resources and Planning
Subject: Secretarial Order 3362: Site-specific Management Activities to Conserve or Restore Big Game Habitat
Secretarial Order (S.O.) 3362 (Improving Habitat Quality in Western Big-Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors) emphasizes the importance of conserving and improving elk, mule deer, and pronghorn habitat. In particular, S.O. 3362 directs that the BLM “appropriately apply site-specific management activities, as identified in State land use plans, site-specific plans, or the Action Plan that conserve or restore habitat necessary to sustain local and regional big-game populations…”
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act identifies wildlife development and utilization as a principal or major use of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM Manual Section 6500 includes a goal to “ensure that big game/upland game species on the public lands are provided habitat of sufficient quantity and quality to sustain identifiable economic and/or social contributions to the American People.”
Site-specific management activities that can help conserve or restore big game habitat as outlined in S.O. 3362 include:
- Restoring degraded winter range and migration corridors to improve the quality and value of these areas to big game and other wildlife by:
- Removing encroaching trees from sagebrush ecosystems
- Rehabilitating areas damaged by fire
- Treating exotic/invasive vegetation
- Revising wild horse and burro-appropriate management levels (AML) or removing horses and burros exceeding established AML from winter range or migration corridors if habitat is degraded as a result of their presence
- Working cooperatively with private landowners and State highway departments to achieve permissive fencing measures during initial construction phases—or after those phases are complete—if fencing is proved to impede movement of big game through migration corridors including potentially:
- Modifying fencing (via smooth wire)
- Removing fencing (if no longer necessary)
- Seasonally adapting fencing (seasonal lay down)
- Avoiding development in the most crucial winter range or migration corridors during sensitive seasons
- Minimizing development that would fragment winter range and primary migration corridors
- Limiting disturbance of big game on winter range
- Utilizing other proven actions necessary to conserve and/or restore vital big-game winter range and migration corridors across the West
In addition to the site specific management activities outlined in S.O. 3362, individual state wildlife agencies and tribes have high quality information and site-level best management recommendations for conserving and enhancing big game populations and habitat specific to ecological variables within their respective jurisdictions. The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) has big game management recommendation resources on their website (www.wafwa.org), and in particular on the Mule Deer Working Group webpage. Attachment 1 contains additional technical references and information sources that may be helpful in planning and implementing habitat management activities beneficial to big game species.
State agencies have primary management authority over big game species, including, (but not limited to): elk, pronghorn, and mule deer, and thus, maintain the authority to delineate and designate priority big game winter range and migration corridors. The Department of the Interior requested that the state agencies identify their top 3-5 priority elk, mule deer, and/or pronghorn winter ranges and migration corridors and to describe these in state action plans (found at this link). The BLM has identified big game points of contact in each BLM State Office to assess where and how the BLM can work in close partnership with the state wildlife agencies on priority winter range and migration corridor conservation, including determining how best to exchange data on state agency-determined priority winter range and migration corridors (IM 2018-057). The reader should contact these individuals identified in Attachment 2 for assistance in determining appropriate site-specific management activities. Please contact Frank Quamen, National Wildlife Program Lead, at (202) 912-7274 or fquamen@blm.gov if you have any questions about this information.
Signed By: Authenticated By:
Kristin Bail Ambyr Fowler
Assistant Director Division of Resources Management (WO-850)
Resources and Planning
2 Attachments
- Selected Big Game Habitat Management References (5pp)
- Sec Order 3362 Big Game Habitat Points of Contact (1p)