Battle Mountain BLM Partnering With NDOW for Habitat Enhancement and Hazardous Fuel Reduction
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The Battle Mountain District BLM has begun a partnership with the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) to protect, enhance, and restore wildlife habitat around Eagle Butte in Central Nevada. Approval for this large scale enhancement project was issued in July, 2011 by the BLM. The Eagle Butte portion of the project encompasses 1881 acres of BLM managed land approximately 15 miles east of Austin, NV. This project will consist of conifer thinning utilizing lop and scatter methods, which will improve habitat for the Greater Sage Grouse as well as other sage brush obligate species as the native grasses and shrubs will no longer have to compete with Pinyon and Juniper trees for scarce resources.
“In addition to improving wildlife habitat, conifer removal from sagebrush communities will also improve fire suppression efforts should a wildfire occur in the area by reducing the intensity of future fires, and increasing the effectiveness of aerial fire retardants” says Assistant Fire Management Officer Brock Uhlig.
The agreement is set to begin implementation by October 1st, 2016 with a target date for completion in September, 2017. If you have questions regarding this or other habitat enhancement projects within the Battle Mountain District please contact Vaughn Cork, Fuels Program Manager, at 775-635-4118 or by email at vcork@blm.gov.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.