§ 6103.1.1 - Management for Land Health.

§ 6103.1.1 Management for Land Health.

(a) To facilitate ecosystem resilience, authorized officers should use watershed condition assessments (see § 6103.2), and land health evaluations and causal factor determinations to support decision-making. Such action promotes efficiency, supports environmental analysis, and streamlines decision-making.

(b) To facilitate ecosystem resilience, authorized officers must manage all program areas to progress toward achieving land health standards.

(1) Authorized officers must apply approved land health standards, as revised from rangeland health standards previously established under subpart 4180 of this chapter (fundamentals of rangeland health), across all ecosystems managed by the BLM.

(2) Programs that authorize and manage uses or implement management actions on public land will develop management guidelines, which are best management practices designed to facilitate progress toward achievement and maintenance of land health standards.

(i) Authorized officers may develop or adopt additional management guidelines to address local ecosystems and management practices.

(ii) Programs and authorized officers will review management guidelines for sufficiency and make necessary revisions at least every 10 years in conjunction with the review of land health standards described in this subpart.

(c) Land use plans must identify the allocations and actions anticipated to achieve desired land health outcomes, including actions to maintain or restore land health in accordance with the land health standards. These actions include, but are not limited to, prioritizing development in degraded areas as well as prioritizing and implementing restoration actions (see § 6102.3).

(d) Land use plans shall identify statutory, regulatory, and other requirements that may prevent achievement of land health standards.

(1) Best management practices and mitigation measures to minimize effects to land health resulting from these requirements should be identified and required where practicable.

(2) Environmental effects analysis, consistent with NEPA requirements, for proposed management actions must consider effects to relevant land health standards.