| Description: |
The BLM, Montana/Dakotas Wildlife Program helps ensure
self-sustaining populations and a natural abundance and
diversity of wildlife on public lands for the enjoyment and
use of present and future generations. The Program is
responsible for maintaining, restoring, and conserving
species and their habitats in cooperation with the Federal
and State wildlife agencies, and other partner
organizations. BLM-administered public lands are home to
thousands of mammal, reptile, avian, amphibian, and
invertebrate species over some of our nations most
ecologically diverse and essential habitat.
The BLM will work with partners and maintain close
collaboration with States, Tribes, other Federal agencies,
and other organizations in conserving and restoring
wildlife habitats to support wildlife and wildlife uses
under a shared conservation stewardship approach. The BLM
uses the latest geospatial data technologies to share
wildlife and wildlife data within BLM and with partners to
work more efficiently.
The Wildlife Program leverages funds with other BLM
programs to address vegetation restoration that not only
improves wildlife habitat, but also increases forage for
livestock, improves water quality, removes invasive weed
species, and reduces the threat for catastrophic wildfires.
In 2019, the BLM, Montana-Dakotas is focusing work in areas
to facilitate meeting the priorities of the Administration,
Secretary, Congressional appropriations, and the BLM. This
would include but not be limited to expanding hunting and
wildlife viewing opportunities and identifying areas to
increase access for these purposes; working with State
agencies to meet State wildlife population objectives and
working with rural communities to enhance economic
opportunities related to wildlife; working to enhance
habitat for upland game, waterfowl, big game and watchable
wildlife species; providing employment opportunities for
youths and veterans; providing consistent data to
streamline energy and grazing permitting, and working with
partners to provide data to streamline land use planning;
and partnering with conservation stewardship organizations
to increase habitat quality.
BLM (State) has an opportunity to work with partner
organizations to assist BLM with the following:
1. Provide support to coordinate, integrate, and focus
financial and in-kind investments in landscape resiliency
and connectivity projects, and in areas of big game winter
range, migration corridors or other important seasonal
habitats.
2. Provide support for Secretarial Order No. 3347:
Conservation Stewardship and Outdoor Recreation;
a. advance conservation stewardship, improve game and
habitat management, and increase outdoor recreation
opportunities by identifying areas where hunting and
wildlife viewing opportunities can be expanded.
3. Provide Support for Secretarial Order No. 3353 (Greater
Sage-Grouse Conservation and Cooperation with Western
States); Through implementation of collaborative efforts
with State and local partners and organizations critical to
addressing challenges to habitat conservation, work on sage
grouse and their habitats. The BLM will focus on:
monitoring of priority habitat areas, maintaining data sets
and geospatial information to meet the assessment &
monitoring commitments made in the land use plans,
providing information to State partners and the public,
increasing transparency to ensure strategic implementation
of restoration actions, travel and transportation planning,
partnership development, and training. Work to promote
habitat resiliency and connectivity, which is often
conducted in cooperation with industry stakeholders,
States, and other partners, will also be directed to
highest priority areas where partners are available to
leverage and increase capacity.
4. Provide support for Secretarial Order 3356, Hunting,
Fishing, Recreational Shooting, and Wildlife Conservation
Opportunities and Coordination with States, Tribes, and
Territories;
a. incorporate analysis of the impacts of Federal land
and water actions on wildlife habitat, and thus, hunting
opportunities in planning and decision making; and,
collaborate with state wildlife agencies to attain or
sustain wildlife population goals, particularly for
wildlife that is hunted.
5. Provide support for Secretarial Order No. 3362
(Improving Habitat Quality in Western Big-Game Winter Range
and Migration Corridors); work with state wildlife agencies
to include habitat data, and habitat & population
objectives to incorporate measurable outcomes into BLM
management decisions; apply site-specific management
activities that conserve, improve, or restore habitat
necessary to sustain local and regional big game
populations.
6. Provide support for S.O. 3366, Increasing Recreational
Opportunities on Lands and Waters Managed by the U.S.
Department of the Interior work with state, tribal, other
Federal, and non-governmental organizational partners to
inventory public lands for birds and other watchable
wildlife species, and to enhance bird and other watchable
wildlife habitat in order to increase birding and wildlife
viewing opportunities.
7. Collaborate with State, Federal, and non-government
organization partners to leverage technical expertise and
financial resources (cost share) to effectively assess
habitat and wildlife populations in need of conservation or
enhancement.
8. Develop and share science-based strategies through
professional workshops, meetings, and work groups and
conduct essential conservation and restoration actions to
maintain sustainable healthy biological communities and
wildlife of local and regional importance for reasons such
as aesthetics, education, and ecosystem services.
9. Increase the percentage of Bureau Sensitive Species
meeting or exceeding established objectives in Resource
Management Plans or other conservation plans, including
state fish and wildlife agency State Wildlife Action Plans.
10. Identify, conserve, and restore priority habitats
(those that are locally at risk, important to local or
regional communities, and contribute to national
conservation for species or groups of species) so that they
include native plants and are resilient to environmental
stressors, such as drought, wildland fire, other unusual
weather events, and insects/disease.
11. Inventory and monitor species populations and habitat,
as well as the success of actions, projects, and treatments
in areas targeted for habitat conservation and restoration,
and continue conversion of wildlife data to regional
geospatial coverages in cooperation with partners, while
ensuring consistent methodologies in delineating occupied
habitat.
12. Coordinate wildlife related environmental education to
stimulate public understanding of the BLM role in
maintaining and enhancing viable populations of wildlife
and wildlife habitat.
13. Support priority projects to primarily benefit wildlife
resources. Benefitting wildlife, a public resource serves a
public purpose.
14. Develop decision support tools and information to
enhance wildlife conservation (In collaboration with all
land management entities that need to address a species
conservation issue regardless of jurisdictional
boundaries). Projects are primarily conducted on lands
administered by the BLM but may also be conducted on other
public or private lands.
Program Expected Outcomes: Proposals should support one or
more of the goals of this program listed below:
Expanding hunting and other wildlife enjoyment
opportunities through
1. Restoring or improving acres of wildlife habitat or
reducing threats to habitat or species;
2. Completing wildlife projects to further wildlife
conservation (e.g., water developments, wildlife-friendly
fence modifications, etc.);
3. Monitoring and inventorying wildlife populations and
habitats;
4. Assessing wildlife habitat and verifying the achievement
of resource management goals and objectives;
5. Performing outreach/education projects to facilitate
wildlife stewardship and conservation;
6. Protecting, preserving, and restoring various wildlife
populations residing on BLM in coordination and
collaboration with state agencies and the FWS;
7. Increasing public knowledge of wildlife depending on BLM
in some or all of their life cycle;
8. Increasing public awareness of the value of wildlife
that depend on BLM-managed public lands habitats;
9. Providing complete, current and accurate information on
the distribution, abundance, and habitat of wildlife that
depend on BLM-managed public lands to increase
professional and public knowledge and understanding of
these resources;
10. Engaging citizen-scientists and students in monitoring
and directed research of various BLM dependent species,
and their habitats;
11. Collecting data and other information to assess threats
to wildlife populations dependent on BLM public lands.
12. Improving how BLM uses and integrates wildlife data and
new research into its decision-making processes.
All proposed projects submitted under this funding
opportunity must state a benefit to the public. |
