BLM FRRR PEIS Virtual Public Meeting Why is BLM doing this?

FRRR Draft PEIS Virtual Public Meeting

2: Why is BLM doing this?

Intact sagebrush communities are disappearing within the Great Basin due to the interactions of increased wildfires, the spread of invasive annual grasses, and the encroachment of pinyon-juniper woodlands. Fuels reduction treatments and rangeland restoration treatments are needed to increase intact sagebrush communities and improve their ability to resist annual grass invasion and recover from disturbance such as wildfire. Functioning and viable sagebrush communities provide multiple-use opportunities for all user groups as well as habitat for sagebrush-dependent species.

Project Area

The FRRR Draft PEIS analyzes several options for carrying out fuels reduction and rangeland restoration projects on public land within portions of California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Restoration projects would be implemented in an analysis area covering approximately 38.5 million acres within a subset of the project area boundary. The analysis area is defined by the current and historical presence of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) on BLM-administered lands. See Chapter 1 of the FRRR Draft PEIS for more information.

Purpose and Need for the Project

Throughout the Great Basin, invasive annual grass expansion and frequent and large wildfires are threatening sagebrush communities. It is estimated that more than 45 percent of historic sagebrush has been lost. The purpose of this project is to restore and conserve intact sagebrush communities within the Great Basin.

Meanwhile cheatgrass, one of the major nonnative invasive annual grasses, has spread throughout the Great Basin and beyond. Cheatgrass grows in the natural gaps between native grasses and sagebrush, making it easier for wildfire to spread. After a fire, cheatgrass replaces the burned sagebrush and makes an area even more susceptible to frequent wildfires. When sagebrush is killed by wildfire, new sagebrush plants can take many years to become established. Together, cheatgrass and wildfire are removing sagebrush faster than it can recover, even with current restoration efforts. On average, the BLM treats about 370,000 acres each year in the Great Basin, but wildfire burns an average of 1.5 million acres each year.

The maps below show that annual grasses have expanded in the project area since 1984. Historically, annual grasses would have been a minor component of sagebrush communities and there would have been no cheatgrass in the Great Basin, but now it is almost everywhere.

Comparison of the percent cover of annual forbs and grasses in 1984 with 2019.

Similarly, sagebrush has been significantly reduced as seen in the comparison between the historic and current sagebrush cover maps.

Resistance and Resilience

In general, areas that receive more moisture and are higher in elevation are better able to resist cheatgrass and to recover after wildfire. These areas are said to have higher resistance and resilience (R&R). The following figure demonstrates the general trend of increasing R&R as moisture and elevation increase. R&R is important to consider when selecting areas to restore. Areas with low R&R may be very difficult to restore and areas with high R&R may have little need for restoration.

Gradient for resistance and resilience are demonstrated in this chart, with low resistance and resilience on the bottom left and high resistance and resilience on the upper right. For direct references to R&R in the FRRR DPEIS, see the second paragraph in Section 2.2.8 (Chambers et al. 2014, Tables 2, 3, and 4); the last two paragraphs of Section 2.2.9; the last paragraph of Section 4.1.1, last paragraph; and Section F.3 of Appendix F.

Next Station: What are the Desired Vegetation Conditions?

For more information on the FRRR Draft PEIS please contact Ammon Wilhelm, 208-373-4000.

If you have questions about the FRRR Draft PEIS or wish to be added or removed from the mailing list, please contact BLM at BLM_PEIS_Questions@blm.gov.