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WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Land Management has signed records of decision to enhance greater sage-grouse conservation on public lands in Colorado and Oregon. The approved habitat conservation measures will support Western communities and also benefit more than 350 other wildlife species. These two plan amendments are part of a range-wide approach developed in coordination with 10 states, Tribes, local communities, and the public to enhance conservation for greater sage-grouse. 

The BLM has also completed the administrative process for the North Dakota, South Dakota, and California records of decision, and is prepared to issue RODs for those three states. The agency continues to work closely with wildlife managers in five other states to finalize decisions for sagebrush areas that improve habitat conservation through a range-wide approach while being consistent with individual state plans and priorities. Until the records of decisions are signed, the BLM will continue to manage the public lands in those eight states under plans first adopted in 2015. 

“These decisions are the result of our ongoing commitment to work with states to enhance protections that have been in place for nearly a decade,” said BLM Principal Deputy Director Nada Wolff Culver. “The BLM looks forward to reaching similar decisions in the remaining states so that the agency is better able to effectively respond to changing conditions and ensure the viability of sage-grouse populations into the future.” 

The BLM initiated this plan amendment effort based on updated scientific information and changing land uses to provide for consistent and effective range-wide conservation that is responsive to locally relevant habitat variability, and to address ongoing litigation including a U.S. District Court of Idaho’s preliminary injunction preventing implementation of the 2019 Approved RMP Amendments. 

In order to issue records of decision like those announced today, the BLM works to resolve protests submitted by the public and to respond to reviews by governors of the states affected. The proposed updates guide actions on nearly 65 million acres of sagebrush lands in 10 Western states. As with the original plans adopted in 2015, the updates are the result of ongoing collaboration with states and input from local, Tribal and federal partners to balance a consistent west-wide management approach with unique conditions and policies in the individual states that are responsible for managing wildlife populations.