Prior to preparation of the American Prairie Reserve Bison Change of Use Environmental Assessment  EA# DOI-BLM-MT-L010-2018-0007, the public was notified of APR’s proposed action on ePlanning and through a news release on March 21, 2018, announcing a public scoping period from April 9 to May 9, 2018. The news release also provided notice of a series of four BLM-hosted in-person open house-style public meetings, which were held on April 9 through April 12, 2018, in four communities in north-central Montana: Winnett, Winifred, Malta and Glasgow. Following publication of the preliminary EA on July 1, 2021, BLM received requests for a comment period extension; therefore, the comment period was extended from 60-days to 90-days and closed September 28, 2021. One virtual public meeting was held on July 21, during which BLM staff described the proposed action, provided instruction on submitting comments on the EA, and accepted verbal public comments. Throughout the duration of the public comment period, BLM received comments primarily through the comment mechanism that was provided on the project website. Comments were also received by mail. Several revisions to the EA were made based on public comments received, and an additional report detailing these changes, as well as BLM’s response to public comments received during this period, is provided in the Public Comment Report under the Documents tab.

The public comment period for the American Prairie Reserve Change-of-Use EA is closed.