The Bureau of Land Management announced it will publish six draft environmental impact statements (SEISs) for the management of Greater Sage-Grouse habitat on public lands in seven Western states. The agency said the documents address issues in a lawsuit against the 2019 sage grouse plans in western states.
“In March of last year, the Greater Sage-Grouse conservation plans were adopted with strong bipartisan support by the Western states, as the plans made important modifications that matched the input provided by the states and Western communities,” said Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Casey Hammond. “The draft SEISs illustrate the hard look and robust analysis we performed in this collaborative process to balance our habitat conservation and enhancement goals in response to recent litigation.”
The reports explain how the range of alternatives analyzed in the 2019 EISs was developed, the incorporation by reference of the effects analysis from the 2015 EISs, and how best available science was used, according to the agency.
