Using Threat-based Land Management in Bureau of Land Management’s Land Health Evaluation

The land health evaluation is a process that Bureau of Land Management district office staffs use on public rangelands to determine the health of the ecosystem and management interventions needed to maintain or improve the condition of renewable public resources. Many methodologies are used within the land health evaluation, and this report (purple button below) details a pilot study to explore the applicability and utility of incorporating the threat-based model approach into the land health evaluation process for a grazing allotment within Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) habitat in Oregon. The threat-based model approach uses simplified ecosystem models to identify and map primary threats and determine potential management interventions. The study team found that the threat-based model supported the findings from the BLM’s land health evaluation for the O’Keeffe allotment. The threat-based model approach offered another line of evidence in assessing upland standards. It also proved to be a valuable tool for communicating with stakeholders, as it provided a spatial depiction of habitat condition and threats through maps and a framework to link threats to management actions. The BLM needs to further
apply and study this methodology, but there is potential to use the threat-based model to streamline the land health evaluation process and provide a consistent assessment framework across public and private lands.

Citation: Anthony, M., G. Frederick, and A. Sitz. 2021. Application of the threat-based model framework in the BLM land health assessment and evaluation process in Oregon. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon-Washington State Office, Portland, OR.