Project Name: Missoula Field Office Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement

Record of Decision

On June 19, 2020, the BLM issued a Protest Resolution Report, and each protesting party was notified in writing of the BLM’s findings and the disposition of their protests. The Protest Resolution Report was made available on the BLM website. 

On September 25, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana ruled that BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Perry Pendley has unlawfully served as the Acting BLM Director for the last 424 days and enjoined him from exercising the authority of the BLM Director. Bullock v. Bureau of Land Management et al., 4:20-cv-00062, (D. Mont. September 25, 2020). On October 16, 2020, after further briefing by the parties, the Court set aside the Missoula and Lewistown RMP Revisions – as well as the Miles City RMP Amendment – on the grounds that Mr. Pendley “exercised the Director’s exclusive authority to resolve protests” on all three plan decisions. Further, the Court determined that “[o]nly the Secretary of the Interior can perform functions or duties of the BLM Director.” Bullock v. Bureau of Land Management et al., 4:20-cv-00062, *4 (D. Mont. October 16, 2020).

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The Plan provides management goals, objectives, and direction for about 163,000 acres of surface lands primarily in the Missoula, Granite and Powell counties; and approximately 250,000 acres of subsurface lands in Flathead, Granite, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Powell, Ravalli, and Sanders Counties.

The need for the plan revision is caused by observed changes to natural resources and resource uses over the past 33 years. The BLM has acquired more lands for recreation and public access; those acres need comprehensive management direction. We’ve observed shifts in the vegetation on the landscape, increases in the people and ways they recreate on public lands, and new regional strategies to address special status species including the Canada lynx, grizzly bear, and bull trout. New information, inventories, and trends related to resources such as recreation and lands with wilderness characteristics need to be considered.

These land use plan decisions will guide the management of BLM lands on the basis of multiple use and sustained yield. Specifically, the following purposes for action are necessary for the BLM to manage for its distinctive contribution to the broader landscape in western Montana:
                • Maintain or restore ecological sustainability for forests and grasslands to provide quality                     habitat for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife species, and to provide opportunities for                     sustainable timber harvest and livestock grazing;
                • Provide for recreation opportunities and improve public access;
                • Manage for other social and scientific values.

In preparing the Proposed RMP/Final EIS, the BLM considered public comments.  The BLM received approximately 5,000 form letters throughout the country, 350 form emails to the RMP email address, and approximately 80 unique comments regarding the Draft RMP during the public comment period (May - August 2019). 

Public comments submitted on the Draft RMP are available under the "Documents and Reports" section, except the 5,000 form letters are available at the BLM office. 

Protests submitted on the Proposed Plan/Final EIS are available under the “Documents and Reports” section.  

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