A draft rangeland management plan will improve habitat for sage grouse on more than 541,000 acres of grazing allotments in southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada.

Rangeland restoration, riparian and wetland improvement and invasive species reduction are among other goals of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Louse Canyon Geographic Management Area.

The draft EIS considers alternatives for managing five grazing allotments including more than 530,000 acres in Malheur County, Ore., and two allotments including more than 11,000 acres in Humboldt County, Nev., according to BLM’s Nov. 29 notice in the Federal Register.

The public’s input on it “will inform the final analysis that will guide decisions on the best livestock management and restoration actions for these public lands,” BLM Malheur field manager Jonah Blustain said in a news release. BLM “will continue to collaborate with tribal partners and local, state and federal agencies to complete the plan.”

The draft responds in part to a 2015 court settlement on the protection of natural areas significant to research, according to the release. Informed by “the best available science” as well as input from cooperating agencies, the draft considers management options to help BLM meet land health standards including efforts to address habitat restoration needs.

Management alternatives consider six grazing management options and potential rangeland improvement projects.

An additional alternative, to take no action, would make no changes to grazing.

The 2015 Greater Sage Grouse Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment and Oregon Record of Decision identified the entire project area as grouse habitat.

“There is a need to take restoration, livestock grazing, and livestock administration actions to promote ecosystem health, renew livestock grazing permits and improve livestock grazing management,” according to the notice. “Portions of the management area are currently not meeting one or more of the standards.”

The notice triggers a comment period through Jan. 13.

Comments can be mailed to the district at 100 Oregon St., Vale, Ore., or emailed to BLM_OR_VL_Louse Canyon_GMA@blm.gov.