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This data set was created to depict the prioritization of Greater Sage-Grouse Habitat Management Areas from the BLM Greater Sage-Grouse Land Use Planning Strategy in the Utah Sub-Region. This data was developed to reflect the prioritizations of the final agency decision to amend 14 BLM land use plans throughout the State of Utah. This planning process was initiated through issuance of a Notice of Intent published on December 6, 2011. This dataset is associated with the Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments for the Great Basin Region, released to the public via a Notice of Availability on September 24, 2015. The purpose of the planning process was to address protection of greater sage-grouse, in partial response to a March 2010 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that found the greater sage-grouse was eligible for listing under the authorities of the Endangered Species Act. The planning process resulted in preparation of a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and final environmental impact statement (FEIS) in close coordination with cooperating agencies for the planning effort. The planning effort addressed the adequacy of regulatory mechanisms found in the land use plans, as well as addressing the myriad threats to grouse and their habitat that were identified by the FWS. The data include the identification of priority and general habitat management areas, as well as a portion occupied habitat within the planning area identified as neither priority or general. Definitions of priority and general, as well as the management associated with each, are located in the Utah Greater Sage-Grouse Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment.The interagency team reconvened in late 2016 to review State of Utah GRSG populations and the BLM’s 2015 and 2016 wildfire data. Of the ten soft triggers and seven hard triggers evaluated, only one population soft trigger and one population hard trigger have been met, both within the Sheeprocks population area of Fillmore and Salt Lake Field Offices. Appendix I of the ARMPA includes “hard-wired” changes in management that were finalized in the 2015 Record of Decision, listed in Appendix I Table I.1 (Specific Management Responses). The PHMA in the sheeprocks population has changed as a result of this, and the change is reflected in this data. |