On September 28, 2020 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lower Sonoran Field Office published the Decision Record and Protest Resolution Report  (see Documents) for the Sonoran Desert National Monument Livestock Grazing Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment/Final Environmental Assessment (RMPA/EA).

The BLM has approved the Proposed Action (Alternative B) described in Section 2.1.3 of the Proposed RMPA/EA as the Selected Alternative. The Selected Alternative makes two changes to the 2012 Lower Sonoran and Sonoran Desert National Monument Approved RMP/Record of Decision (ROD). The BLM amends the ROD in the following ways:

• Changes ROD GR-2.1.3 (allocating unavailable acres) to GR-2.1.3 A-1 as follows: "Allocate the six livestock grazing allotments north of Interstate-8 within the SDNM as available for livestock grazing;" and
• Changes ROD GR-2.1.4 (allocating 3,318 Animal Month Units [AUMs]) to GR-2.1.4 A-2 as follows: "Allocate available AUMs across six livestock grazing allotments north of Interstate-8 and within the SDNM as a range of ephemeral only to a maximum 4,232 perennially authorized AUMs."

The RMPA/EA does not include any implementation-level decisions, and is therefore not subject to appeal under 4 Code of Federal Regulations Part 4.21.

The BLM on July 9, 2020 had previously published a Finding of No Significant Impact and determined that an environmental impact statement will not be prepared.

The BLM received 15 comment emails and letters during the 30-day protest period which ended on August 7, 2020. Two protests, from Western Watersheds Project et al and Wild Earth Guardians, were determined to be valid and are addressed in the Protest Resolution Report (see Documents). The remaining emails and letters were determined to be invalid protests.