The Bureau of Land Management has released a draft plan for greater sage grouse conservation and management on the 67 million acres of BLM-managed habitat in 10 western states.

The draft plan incorporates new sage grouse conservation science and lessons learned, accommodating changing resource conditions while increasing implementation flexibility. It is informed by the best available science and input from local, state, federal and Tribal partners, according to the agency.

BLM is considering six alternatives to plans adopted in 2015 and updated in 2019. The alternatives range from taking no action to varying degrees of species and habitat protection.

Alternative 3 includes the most restrictive measures of protection and preservation. Under that proposal, all habitat management areas would be managed as primary habitat management areas, or PHMAs.

Livestock grazing

Those PHMAs would be closed to new leases for oil and gas development, mining permits and leases for nonenergy minerals, such as phosphate. Development associated with existing permits and leases would not be precluded, the agency said.

Those areas would also be closed to livestock grazing and not managed for wild horses and burros, meaning they would be removed.

But the agency noted closing PHMAs to grazing would require more fencing, resulting in possible habitat fragmentation, increased collisions risks for sage grouse and increased opportunities for sage grouse predators.

It also stated removal of grazing could allow a buildup of fine fuels, which could increase the risk of large-scale wildfires that would damage or destroy large areas of sage grouse habitat.

But in the long term, removing livestock grazing and wild horses and burros could have positive benefits for wildlife grazing, the agency noted.

The agency also laid out the social and economic consequences of Alternative 3, particularly on rural communities — as well as reduced flexibility in the administration of BLM’s multiple-use mandate.

BLM identified Alternative 5 as its preferred alternative. It balances conservation with public land use and better aligns with state and local plans and policies and BLM’s multiple use and sustained yield mandate, the agency said.

BLM considered nearly 1,900 comments received during an initial public scoping period and information shared by state, local, federal, and Tribal partners in more than 100 meetings.

The draft environmental impact statement and plan amendments are open for public comment until June 13.

The agency will hold 13 public meetings on the draft alternatives and analysis. Information on the meetings will be posted in the events column on the main page of the BLM website.

A final environmental impact statement is expected this fall, followed by records of decision in each state.