National Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring and Evaluation Report

United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Grand Junction, Colorado 81506
http://www.blm.gov

November 1, 2021

In Reply Refer To:
4100, 4180, 4400, 6500, 6600, 7100, 7200 (HQ-200) P       

EMS TRANSMISSION 11/03/2021
Information Bulletin No. 2022-005   

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

From:              Assistant Director, Resources and Planning

Subject:           National Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring and Evaluation Report 

DD: 11/30/2021 & 02/01/2022

  The Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring and Evaluation (RIME) report is completed annually according to policy contained in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Handbook H-4400-1 (Release 4-98 and 4-100), and the BLM Handbook H-4180-1 (Release 4-107, dated January 19, 2001). BLM’s monitoring accomplishments, land health conditions and trends, which are summarized in the RIME report, are included in the Public Land Statistics report, and support fulfillment the Secretary of Interior’s obligation to inventory public lands and their resources and conditions, as required by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

Due to delays resulting from reorganization and staff turnover, the fiscal year (FY) 2019 RIME report was not completed until FY 2021, and a data call to complete the FY 2020 report was not issued following the established schedule. This IB requests data for both FY 2020 and FY 2021 so that the RIME reports can be brought up to date and maintained according to the regular schedule.

The following information is requested to collect data for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 & 2021 Rangeland Inventory Monitoring and Evaluation (RIME) Reports.

The RIME report contains eleven tables. Tables 2 and 4 are populated using data from the Rangeland Administration System (RAS). The remaining 9 tables listed below are populated by each state and field office using field office records:

• Table 1 – Cumulative monitored Rangeland Trend
• Table 2 – Allotment resource management plan categorization
• Table 3 – Monitoring of grazing allotments
• Table 4 – Allotment Management Plans (AMP) or Other Applicable Activity Plans Intended to Serve as the Functional Equivalent of Allotment Management Plans
• Table 5 – Fundamentals of Land Health Cumulative 2012-current Fiscal Year
  • Table 5 A – Watershed Function
  • Table 5 B - Riparian Watershed Function
  • Table 5 C - Ecological Processes
  • Table 5 D – Water Quality
  • Table 5 E – Habitat Quality for Threatened and Endangered and Special-Status Species
• Current Year and Cumulative Rangeland Health Accomplishments (1995 to current fiscal year)

State and field offices should complete Tables 1, 3, and 5 A – 5 E as shown in Attachment 1, for inclusion in the final FY 2020 & 2021 RIME reports. Tables 5A – 5E are populated by adding annual accomplishments to the allotment and acreage values for the land health reporting categories in each table. Each state will submit data for Tables 1, 3 and 5 for FY 2020 by November 30, 2021, and submit separate Tables 1, 3 and 5 for FY 2021 by February 1, 2022.

In addition, for allotments in which land health evaluations and/or determinations were completed during FY 2020 & 2021 evaluation and determination dates, acres assessed, and assessment outcomes should be supplied as shown in Attachment 2. These data will be used to populate current year and cumulative accomplishments tables of the RIME report. States may also use this opportunity to review, update and correct allotment, land health evaluation and determination data for allotments that were evaluated prior to FY 2020.  Each state will update this table with FY 2020 assessment data by November 30, 2021, and update 2021 assessment data by February 1, 2022.

The BLM Operations Center will provide template tables for each state. These tables will be shared with state leads and via OneDrive.  Nika Lepak at the BLM Operations Center will coordinate collection of the state tables, and should be notified at dlepak@blm.gov when each state’s tables are ready for submission.

The due date for state submissions is November 30, 2021 for FY 2020 reporting and February 1, 2022 for FY 2021 reporting.

If you have questions regarding this request for information, contact Nika Lepak, Rangeland Ecologist, Division of Resource Services, National Operations Center, at dlepak@blm.gov; or Justin Shirley, Rangeland Management Specialist, Division of Forest, Range, and Vegetation Resources (HQ-220), at jshirley@blm.gov.

Signed by:                                           Authenticated by:
David Jenkins                                     Robert M. Williams
Assistant Director                               Division of Regulatory Affairs and Directives,(HQ-630)
Resources and Planning

2 Attachments

1. RIME Report Tables 1, 3 and 5 example and instructions (7 pp)
2. Rangeland Health Detail example and instructions (1 p)