§ 6103.1 Land Health Standards. ( a ) The BLM shall develop national land health standards that facilitate progress toward achieving the following fundamentals of land health across all ecosystems on lands managed by the BLM: ( 1 ) Watersheds are in, or are making significant progress toward, properly functioning physical condition, including their upland, riparian-wetland, and aquatic components; soil and plant conditions support infiltration, soil moisture storage, and the release of water that are in balance with climate and landform and maintain or improve water quality, water quantity, and timing and duration of flow.
( 2 ) Ecological processes, including the hydrologic cycle, nutrient cycle, and energy flow, are maintained, or there is significant progress toward their attainment, in order to support healthy biotic populations and communities.
( 3 ) Water quality complies with State water quality standards and achieves, or is making significant progress toward achieving, BLM management objectives established in the land use plan, such as meeting wildlife needs.
( 4 ) Habitats are, or are making significant progress toward being, restored or maintained for Federal threatened and endangered species, Federal proposed or candidate threatened and endangered species, and other special status species.
( b ) Land health fundamentals will be advanced through national land health standards that, at a minimum, address the following resources, processes, and values: ( 1 ) Upland hydrologic function;
( 2 ) Riparian, wetland, and aquatic hydrologic function;
( 3 ) Upland ecological processes and biotic communities, including connectivity, and intactness of native plant and animal habitats;
( 4 ) Riparian, wetland, and aquatic ecological processes and biotic communities including condition, connectivity, and intactness of native plant and animal habitats;
( 5 ) Water quality; and
( 6 ) Habitat condition connectivity and intactness for Federal threatened and endangered species, Federal proposed or candidate threatened and endangered species, and other special status species.
( c ) To facilitate land health evaluations, the national land health standards will include indicators that are broadly applicable across the major ecosystem or habitat types (*e.g.,* forest, rangeland, cold water fisheries) the BLM manages, and will include indicators derived from standardized datasets.
( d ) Authorized officers must manage all program areas in accordance with the fundamentals of land health and standards, as provided in this subpart. Authorized officers must adopt the national standards and indicators, and may, when necessary, incorporate geographically distinct land health standards and indicators to evaluate rare or unique habitat or ecosystem types (*e.g.,* permafrost) if such habitats or ecosystems cannot be evaluated using the national land health standards and indicators.
( e ) Rangeland health standards developed under 43 CFR subpart 4180 will be reviewed and amended or supplemented as necessary to incorporate the national standards and indicators within 3 years of the effective date of these regulations. Subsequently, authorized officers shall review all land health standards for sufficiency at least every 10 years.
( f ) Amended land health standards must be approved by the appropriate BLM State Director prior to implementation.