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Winnemucca, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Winnemucca District Office (WDO) is preparing an environmental assessment (EA) that will analyze the potential impacts of riparian protection and enhancement projects. A public comment period will be open for the next 30 days. We must receive your comments by Monday, May 15, 2017 to ensure consideration. 

The primary objectives of these projects are to:

• Improve riparian function & health.
• Recover riparian plant communities.
• Reduce soil erosion.
• Enhance wildlife habitat, especially designated Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (LCT) streams and key brood rearing habitat for Greater Sage Grouse (GRSG).
• Provide reliable water sources across the landscape, which would aid in the distribution of use by wildlife, wild horses and burros, and livestock.

These actions include but are not limited to:

• Fencing: Maintenance, repair, or construction of fences (temporary or permanent) around moist meadows, riparian areas, streams and spring sources.
• Spring and stream developments: reducing impacts to riparian areas by providing off-site water sources through modification, replacement, removal, or installation of developments.
• Roads: Improve, re-route, decommission, or obliterate roads to reduce impacts to riparian areas.
• Stream restoration: Improve riparian functionality by restoring floodplain access and appropriate sediment delivery.

The EA will apply a programmatic approach to identify and analyze a suite of actions that could be used to protect, enhance, and restore riparian areas. In addition, it will provide a framework for deciding the appropriate analysis level for individual projects that might be proposed in the future. No site-specific actions will be proposed or analyzed in this document; rather it will make the analyzed actions available for implementation across the plan area.

The plan area is all public lands managed by the BLM’s Winnemucca District Office except for Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) within the Black Rock Field Office.  The Pine Forest Wilderness, the four ACECs, and the eight WSAs within the Humboldt River Field Office would be included in the analysis.

If you would like to be involved in this planning process or have input concerning this proposal, please mail or email your comments to Bureau of Land Management, Attn: Robert Gibson, 5100 E Winnemucca Blvd, Winnemucca, NV 89445 or email at BLM_NV_WDO_Riparian_PEA@blm.gov with (Attn: Robert Gibson) in the subject line. This letter and other information regarding this project will be posted to the project website at: http://bit.ly/2nTJUuR.

Public comments submitted for this project, including names and addresses of commenters will be available for public review at the WDO during regular business hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.  Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment -- including personal identifying information -- may be made publicly available at any time.  While you can ask us in your comment to withhold personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.