The BLM is preparing the EIS for changes in Sage Grouse management. New proposed rules for Sage Grouse management will affect all land uses where Sage Grouse habitat is or could be present. We urge everyone to comment on the development of the EIS.

The BLM is asking the public to identify issues that should be
analyzed in an upcoming Enivronmental Impact Statement concerning sage
grouse in northeast Montana. Details can be found at:

http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/prog/wildlife/mtdksplanning.html

and

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/sagegrouse/eastern.html

Our sage grouse population is healthy because of decades of good rangeland
management. We should speak up and let the planners know that changing
management out here would be harmful to the sage grouse.

Here are two paragraphs you could use in a letter:

Northeast Montana has the healthiest, most diverse grassland ecosystem in
the world. We have so many sage grouse that the Montana Department of Fish,
Wildlife & Parks is translocating some of them to Canada. This region’s sage
grouse production is due to decades of cooperation between ranchers and the
BLM.

In the EIS, please include an analysis of the importance of this
public-private partnership to the sage grouse. Please explore things the BLM
can do to strengthen this partnership by keeping ranches economically
viable. When amending the RMPs, please protect northeast Montana from any
changes in land management. Instead, this region’s land use traditions
should be used as a model for sage grouse conservation and restoration
elsewhere.

It would be good to open the letter with a paragraph explaining who you are
and where you have seen healthy populations of sage grouse.

The letter can be mailed to:

Eastern Region Project Manager
BLM Wyoming State Office
5353 Yellowstone
Cheyenne, WY 82009

or emailed to:

sageeast@blm.gov

The next steps for the Gallatin Crest

Windy Pass in the Gallatin Range is a place of spectacular beauty.

Trying to explain it, Roger Jenkins recently recalled the opening scene of “The Sound of Music,” when Julie Andrews twirls in a grassy mountain meadow singing “The Hills are Alive.”

To read full story Click here

Sage Grouse habitat is a tool used by federal land managers to restrict access for recreation, resource development, and ultimately the taking of private property rights. Land management agencies fueled by a takeover from well funded environmental groups are portraying these actions as partnerships and cooperative agreements when in fact these are planned and predetermined agendas focused on removing people from the land and their property.

Two such meetings in Lewistown and Dillon have been scheduled to present their plans.

As part of a national strategy to evaluate greater sage-grouse conservation measures in land use plans, the Bureau of Land Management’s Dillon Field Office is asking the public to help identify issues to be addressed in an environmental impact statement and land use plan amendment.

A scoping open house will be held

Jan. 12, 2012, at the National Guard Armory  

in Dillon from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.  

Members of the public can drop into the open house at any time between those hours.  The armory is located at 1050 Montana Hwy. 41.

The Dillon meeting is one of 26 being held across the Western Region.  Scoping meetings allow attendees the opportunity to review posters and other informational materials, talk with project team members, and submit comments on the project.

Bureau of Land Management Begins Scoping for Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy

As part of a national strategy to evaluate greater sage-grouse conservation measures in land use plans, the BLM Lewistown Field Office is asking the public to help identify issues to be addressed in an environmental impact statement and land use plan amendment. A scoping open house will be held January 10, 2012, at the Yogo Inn in Lewistown from 5 to 8 p.m. Members of the public can drop into the open house at any time between those hours. A short overview of the sage-grouse planning strategy will be presented at 5, 6, and 7 p.m.

The Lewistown Field Office will be amending the Judith Valley Phillips Resource Management Plan to apply greater sage-grouse habitat conservation measures to land use activities.

Based on ongoing threats to the greater sage-grouse and its habitat throughout the West, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2015 deadline for making a decision whether to list the species under the Endangered Species Act, the BLM will be incorporating consistent objectives and conservation measures into relevant resource management plans by September 2014.

For those unable to attend the scoping meeting, scoping comments may be submitted by a variety of methods. More information on how to submit comments can be found at http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/prog/wildlife/mtdksplanning.html.

The scoping period began December 9 and ends February 7, 2012.

For more information on the scoping process and greater sage-grouse habitat conservation measures, visit the BLM’s greater sage-grouse website at http://www.blm.gov/sagegrouse.

Contacts: Craig Flentie, 406-538-1943

or Mary Apple, 406-896-5258