BLM ID SW Montana Greater Sage Grouse FEIS Biologically Significant Units 2015 ROD

Greater Sage-Grouse Management Areas (habitat) in the Proposed Plan of the Great Basin Region, Idaho-SW Montana Sub-region, Greater Sage-grouse Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as Priority, Important, and General. Management Areas were delineated by BLM, U.S. Forest Service, State of Idaho and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based on considerations of sage-grouse occupancy, landscape, habitat and land use/adaptive management opportunities.<p><p style='margin:0 0 0 0;'><span><span>This data was developed as the Administrative Draft Proposed Plan (ADPP). for the Great Basin Region, Idaho-SW Montana Sub-region, Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). This layer was edited 5/7/2015 at the WO direction to add three areas of non-habitat in the Sagebrush Focal Areas as PHMA. See processing steps. Priority Habitat Management Areas (PHMA) have the highest conservation value based on various sage-grouse population and habitat considerations and reflect the most restrictive management designed to promote sage-grouse conservation. Important Habitat Management Areas (IHMA) are closely aligned with PHMA, but management is somewhat less restrictive, providing additional management flexibility. The General Habitat Management Areas (GHMA) designation is the least restrictive due to generally lower occupancy of sage-grouse and more marginal habitat conditions. A decision was made in September 2014 by the Washington Office that all sub-regions would use a consistent naming convention for identifying Habitat Management Areas (HMA). These are Priority Habitat Management Area (PHMA) and General Habitat Management Area (GHMA). The Idaho and Southwestern Montana sub-region has an additional HMA identified as Important Habitat Management Area (IHMA). Attributes in this layer were updated 9/26/2014. Core updated to PHMA, Important updated to IHMA, and General updated to GHMA. The layer was renamed from ManagementZones_Alt_G_05272014_Final to ManagementAreas_Alt_G_05272014_final. The field identifying the Management Areas was renamed from Management_Zone to Habitat_Management_Area. ManagementAreas_Alt_G_05272014_final renamed to Habitat_ADPP on 01212015. Field edits started with the Alt E map from DEIS (State of Idaho’s Alternative) as a baseline and were completed in December 2013. In subsequent discussions, the State and FWS Idaho Fish and Wildlife Office, expressed concerns about adding more areas to Core designation especially if outside the FWS PACs which were delineated prior to release of the DEIS. The final map used for the Proposed Plan reflects Management Zones (M.Z.s) delineations following multiple discussions between, BLM, FS, FWS and the State.</span></span></p><p><p style='margin:0 0 0 0;'><span><span>Some additional areas in south central Idaho, Mountain Home, and Weiser area were added as GHMA, which are not reflected in the Alt D or E map. These were typically annual grassland areas from the Key Habitat Map that had been previously excluded from the initial PPH/PGH model. These areas have restoration potential or involve past or ongoing restoration efforts. “Donut holes” of less than 500 acres located inside a larger matrix were classified the same as the surrounding matrix. Snapping of PHMA, IHMA, or GHMA to meaningful edges or features (canyons, allotment/pasture boundaries, roads etc.) was completed at the field level to facilitate use of the map designations at the field level. Specific changes can be viewed in MapEditsSummary_05232014_Final.docx, see metadata properties for the attachment

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Organization: Department of the Interior