RECORD OF DECISION/APPROVED RMP AMENDMENT AVAILABLE NOW

Click on the Documents link at left to view the Record of Decision/Approved RMP Amendment.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has undertaken this land use planning effort to prepare a Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment to incorporate management decisions and actions to preserve and enhance habitat for the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) in all BLM land use plans with occupied and unoccupied habitat — as identified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 2020 Final Recovery Plan — across the current eight populations in southwest Colorado and southeast Utah.

This process involved evaluating existing RMPs for field offices, national conservation areas, and one national monument that intersect with GUSG habitat to address management actions including, but not limited to, mineral leasing and development, recreation, livestock grazing management, realty actions, fire management, and restoration actions. The BLM carefully considered how to meet the habitat needs for the Gunnison sage-grouse in balance with other multiple use activities.  Based on environmental analysis using current science and data, identification of causal factors, and public input, the BLM formulated management actions for multiple use activities to limit impacts to Gunnison sage-grouse populations and habitat.  The process involved evaluating nine existing RMPs in Colorado and two in Utah that intersect with GUSG habitat.

The BLM previously released a Gunnison Sage-Grouse Draft RMP Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement [DOI-BLM-CO-0000-2014-0001-RMP-EIS] in August 2016 but paused, and eventually canceled, the planning effort following an announcement that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) intended to complete a recovery plan for the species.  The FWS released the Final Recovery Plan for the species in October 2020, prompting the BLM to reengage in this effort.  The BLM initiated Section 7 consultation under the Endangered Species Act with the FWS on management and conservation actions identified through the planning process. The associated FWS Biological Opinion was issued on August 23, 2024. The environmental analysis and resulting plan amendments are limited to management direction and decisions affecting public lands and federal mineral estate where the BLM has jurisdiction within nineteen Colorado counties and two Utah counties in the Planning area.