What is the Healthy Lands Initiative?

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne launched the Healthy Lands Initiative 

(HLI) in 2007 to accelerate land restoration, increase productivity, and improve 

the health of public lands in the Western United States. The goal of the Initiative 

is to preserve the diversity and productivity of public and private lands across the 

landscape. The Initiative will enable and encourage local BLM managers to set 

priorities across a broader scale and mitigate impacts to an array of resources in 

ways not previously available to them.

The President’s 2009 budget includes an increase of $10 million for HLI over 

the level enacted in Fiscal Year 2008. The effort has focused on landscape-level 

restoration effort on southwest Wyoming; northwest and southeast portions of 

New Mexico; south-central Idaho; southwest Colorado; Utah; and a three-corner 

area of Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada. In FY 2009, areas in northwest Colorado and 

parts of California would be added.

Meeting both our energy and land 

health goals requires integrated, 

landscape-scale habitat protections 

and resource management. Our 

initiative combines investments 

in habitat protection with policy 

improvements that will protect 800 

species, including the sage-grouse.

Secretary Dirk Kempthorne

By the Numbers Healthy 

Lands 

Initiative

IDAHO

Snake River Plain

The Southern Idaho-Snake River 

Plain Healthy Lands Initiative is a 

coordinated, landscape-level effort 

to maintain, improve, and restore the 

sagebrush-steppe rangelands of southern 

Idaho.

This Initiative will accelerate 

implementation of the Idaho State 

Sage-grouse Conservation Plan and will 

expand ongoing partnerships among Idaho 

citizens; private landowners; and local, 

state, and Federal governments.

Southern Idaho contains millions of 

acres of sagebrush-steppe rangelands 

that are vital habitat for sage-grouse and 

other wildlife and plant species. These 

species include pygmy rabbit, mule 

deer, pronghorn antelope, black-tailed 

jackrabbit, and numerous sagebrushdependent non-game species. Their future 

is directly connected to the long-term 

integrity and health of Idaho’s sagebrushsteppe. 

This spacious landscape is also greatly 

valued by Idaho citizens. The lands of the 

sagebrush steppe are highly sought after 

for hunting, camping, fi shing, and other 

recreational opportunities that constitute 

a key aspect of Idaho’s quality of life.

This area is also important to the 

livelihood of local communities and the 

economic future of Idaho. Livestock 

grazing and minerals production are 

important uses of these lands, while 

energy transmission lines form a critical 

link in the Nation’s energy supply system. 

Idaho also possesses abundant renewable 

energy resources—especially wind—that 

are essential to building a sustainable 

energy future.

The Southern Idaho Healthy Lands 

Initiative is focused on ensuring that 

the wildlife, recreational, and traditional 

values provided by the sagebrush steppe 

can be restored and sustained in the face 

of increasing demand for energy and 

economic development. The health of the 

environment and our long-term quality of 

life depend on meeting this challenge.

The Southern Idaho-Snake 

River Plain Emphasis Area

• Percentage of population growth 

between 2000 and 2005: 10.6 

• Number of acres of vital sagebrush 

habitat in the Emphasis Area: 

5.8 million

• Number of acres burned by wildfi re 

since 2001: 525,000

• Estimated potential for increased 

wind energy production in southern 

Idaho by 2015: 125-635 megawatts

• Estimated potential for increased 

geothermal energy production in 

southern Idaho by 2015:

860 megawatts

2009 Budget Update
Landscape Approach

With so much at stake, the BLM is 

proposing to implement a new model 

for land management in important 

wildlife areas. Instead of continuing a 

management approach that results in 

fragmented protection of species and 

habitat, the BLM will focus on habitat 

conservation on a landscape scale and 

emphasize cooperative conservation 

to maximize benefi ts to large areas of 

Federal, state, and private lands.

What We Know

• Southern Idaho is experiencing large 

wildfi res, due in part to fl ammable invasive 

species such as cheatgrass. Increasing 

wildfi re is resulting in the loss of large 

areas of sagebrush and native grasses.

• Large wildfi res will continue to occur 

without appropriate fuels management 

practices, control of invasive species, and 

habitat restoration efforts.

• Population increases and growing 

energy development will further strain 

the ecological health of native plant 

communities and wildlife.

• It is more effective and cost effi cient 

to be proactive —to maintain healthy 

landscapes—than to restore depleted 

areas.

Collaborative Effort

Wildfi re, invasive species, drought, and 

other threats to the land operate on 

a vast scale and ignore land ownership 

boundaries. No single owner, jurisdiction, 

or agency can tackle these threats 

individually. The BLM and its partners in 

southern Idaho recognize this and have 

formed seven local working groups that 

are taking a broad-scale, collaborative 

approach to improving and restoring the 

land.

This Initiative will expand these 

partnerships to:

• Increase the amount of land treatments 

that can be completed in each geographic 

area.

• Facilitate best-management practices for 

all land uses.

• Conduct effi cient science-based 

monitoring.

• Maintain and update habitat management 

plans based on new information and 

technologies.

Current Successes

• East Start Lake Bitterbrush 

Plantings: Sage-grouse and big game 

habitat were improved on 2,000 acres 

by hand-planting of 7,000 containerized 

bitterbrush seedlings. This project 

augmented a recent 14,000-acre 

hazardous fuels reduction project.

• Crystal Sage-grouse Restoration 

Project: A combination of domestic 

sheep grazing and glyphosate was used 

to reduce cheatgrass dominance on 

9,200 acres. The treatment prepared 

the site for subsequent restoration 

seeding.

• Stage Road Sagebrush Planting: 

This project involved interseeding 

50,000 sagebrush plugs onto 3,000 

acres, by hand and with the aid of a 

water wheel planter, to re-establish a 

seed source. The plugs were grown 

from locally collected seed.

• Antelope Valley Prescribed Burn: 

Using prescribed fi re to create a 

mosaic, this project will enhance habitat 

quality and break up fuel continuity on 

2,000 acres of sagebrush steppe.

• Rush Skeletonweed Eradication: 

This project involved treating 60 acres 

of sage-grouse habitat and critical big 

game winter range to eradicate rush 

skeletonweed. The project augmented 

a larger 16,000-acre integrated weed 

and fuels management project.

For additional information contact:

Bureau of Land Management 

Idaho State Offi ce

Cheryle Zwang

208-373-4016

Cheryle_Zwang@blm.gov