Greater Sage Grouse Rangewide Planning Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement

Greater Sage Grouse Rangewide Planning Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement

This Greater Sage-Grouse Rangewide Planning (GRSG) Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement (Proposed RMP Amendment /Final EIS) has been prepared by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This document considers amendments to 77 BLM RMPs across the range of greater sage-grouse (GRSG), including in northeastern California, to respond to updated scientific information and changing land uses and provide for consistent and effective rangewide conservation based on biological information that is responsive to locally relevant habitat variability. The Final EIS describes and analyzes seven alternatives, including the Proposed RMP Amendment, for management of GRSG habitat on BLM-administered lands, including areas where BLM administers subsurface minerals. In response to public and cooperating agency comments and internal review of the alternatives and effects described in the Draft RMPA/EIS, BLM developed the Proposed RMP Amendment, which increases protections for GRSG from the Preferred Alternative in the Draft RMPA/EIS, while maintaining an appropriate balance of public land uses. The Proposed RMP Amendment incorporates management direction approaches from all of the alternatives analyzed in the Draft RMPA/EIS. Specifically, priority habitat management areas (PHMA) are identified as exclusion for solar and wind energy and no surface occupancy for fluid minerals. PHMA remains an avoidance area for major rights of way but the exceptions for allowing development are strengthened. Areas within PHMA requiring additional protections have been identified as PHMA with limited exceptions, to be managed as exclusion areas for major rights-of-way, and with no exceptions to the solar and wind exclusion allocation or to the no surface occupancy allocation for fluid minerals. Since the changes in management were consistent across the range, the areas were less suited to being identified as proposed ACECs, which are generally tailored to different values and locations. These additional protections will provide the necessary protections for GRSG habitat given anticipated development threats and negative impacts from climate change, while ensuring an appropriate balance of public land uses. Additional information is available at: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2016719/510 and https://www.blm.gov/programs/fish-and-wildlife/sage-grouse

Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Sierra

Northern California

California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Habitat Conservation Planning (CDFW), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, North Central Region 2 (CDFW), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Northern and Eureka Region 1 (CDFW), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Department of Transportation, District 2 (DOT), California Department of Transportation, District 3 (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Transportation Planning (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Energy Commission, California Fish and Game Commission (CDFGC), California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Natural Resources Agency, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Redding Region 5 (RWQCB), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Sacramento Region 5 (RWQCB), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Lahontan South Lake Tahoe Region 6 (RWQCB), California State Lands Commission (SLC), Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Office of Historic Preservation, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights, University of California Natural Reserve System (UCNRS)

Other (BLM Resource Management Plan Amendment)

BLM Resource Management Plan Amendment

Biological Resources