Heber City Easter Egg Hunt
Post expires at 6:42am on Sunday March 31st, 2024
Post expires at 6:42am on Sunday March 31st, 2024
Post expires at 6:44am on Monday April 1st, 2024
News Release
Washington, D.C.
DATE: March 14, 2024
Contact: BLM_Press@blm.gov
BLM proposes stronger greater sage-grouse conservation plans
Analysis uses best available science and lessons learned to benefit species and western communities
WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is announcing a draft plan to strengthen greater sage-grouse conservation and management on public lands, informed by the best-available science and input from local, state, federal, and Tribal partners. The draft plan is built on decades of partnership, research, and on-the-ground knowledge and experience in maintaining, protecting and restoring healthy sagebrush habitats.
Greater sage-grouse rely on sagebrush lands for all aspects of their life cycle to meet seasonal needs for food, cover and reproduction. A local population may need up to 40 square miles of intact landscape to stay healthy. Populations once in the millions now number fewer than 800,000, largely due to habitat loss exacerbated by climate change, such as drought, increasing wildfires, and invasive species. Protecting and restoring sagebrush on BLM-managed public lands across the West is critical not just for greater sage-grouse, but also for the health of western communities and other iconic Western species that rely on healthy sagebrush, including mule deer, pronghorn, and the pygmy rabbit. Additionally, these collaboratively developed landscape level plans will ensure that other multiple uses of BLM sagebrush lands – including clean energy projects – move forward in a manner that limits impacts to sensitive resources and can also help combat climate change—the main driver of greater sage-grouse habitat loss.
“The majesty of the West and its way of life are at stake. Sagebrush lands are places where people work and play, and they are the headwaters for the West’s major rivers,” said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. “Joint efforts to conserve the greater sage-grouse and its habitat led to the largest collaborative conservation effort in our history, and we are building on that work, together with our partners, to ensure the health of these lands and local economies into the future.”.
The BLM manages the largest single share of sage grouse habitat in the United States—nearly 67 million acres of 145 million total acres. The draft plan offers a range of alternatives for sustainable management of these lands. Balancing a consistent management approach across the range while addressing conditions and policies unique to individual states, BLM will be able to work more effectively with state and local managers to protect and improve sagebrush habitats on public lands.
Alternatives in the proposal build on the most successful components of the plans that the BLM adopted in 2015 and updated in 2019. The draft plan incorporates new sage-grouse conservation science and lessons learned, accommodating changing resources conditions while increasing implementation flexibility. The agency considered nearly 1,900 comments gathered during an initial public scoping period and information shared by state, local, federal, and Tribal partners in more than 100 meetings.
The BLM will hold 13 public meetings to answer questions and take further comments on the draft alternatives and analysis. Information on public meetings will be posted in the events column on the main page of the BLM website.
In addition to actions guided by the greater sage-grouse management plans, the BLM is actively restoring and conserving sagebrush habitat across the West through the Biden Administration’s Investing in America agenda. Annually, the BLM invests approximately $35 million of its congressional appropriation in sagebrush ecosystem projects, supplemented by $123 million from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and complemented by investments by state and local governments, Tribes, stakeholder groups, and private landowners.
The draft environmental impact statement and plan amendments will open for public comment on March 15, 2024. The comment period will end on June 13, 2024. More information on how to comment on this draft will be posted at https://www.blm.gov/sagegrouse. A final environmental impact statement is expected this fall, followed by Records of Decision in each state.
-BLM-
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
Follow the BLM Utah on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr @BLMUtah
Follow BLM Utah’s Instagram @utahpubliclands
BLM Utah News: www.blm.gov/news/utah
Post expires at 12:59pm on Friday April 5th, 2024
For Immediate Release
Jan. 29, 2024
Want to gather shed antlers from Feb. 1 through April 15? Take the DWR’s free, mandatory ethics course
SALT LAKE CITY — Collecting shed antlers from many big game species, including deer, elk and moose, is a popular pastime in Utah. But before you head outdoors to collect shed antlers during the next few months, you are required to complete the 2024 Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ Antler Gathering Ethics course.
After dropping their antlers each winter, male deer, elk and moose will grow a new set of antlers starting in spring. Looking for the shed antlers is a fun activity that many Utah families enjoy. However, late winter and early spring are a tough time of year for deer, elk and moose, which is why the educational ethics course is required if you want to go “shed hunting” between Feb. 1 and April 15.
“During winter, big game animals, especially deer, often have a difficult time finding food,” DWR Once-In-A-Lifetime Species Coordinator Rusty Robinson said. “As a result, they often survive on fat reserves they have built up prior to winter. If the animals receive constant pressure from people and repeatedly have to run or move, they use up the fat reserves and energy they need to make it through the winter. Being disturbed briefly once or twice isn’t too significant, but we have over 20,000 people who routinely shed hunt in Utah each year, so ongoing, repeated disturbances can be detrimental to deer.”
From late winter through early spring, the habitat that big game animals rely on is usually wet, which means it’s more at risk for damage. The free antler gathering ethics course can help you learn how to minimize stress to wildlife and also how to avoid damaging their habitats during this critical time of year.
Completing the course is mandatory if you want to gather shed antlers from Feb. 1 through April 15, and the course must be completed each year. However, if you wait until after April 15 to gather antlers, you don’t need to complete the course. You can find the free 2024 course on the DWR website. About 20,000 people take the mandatory course each year in order to go look for shed antlers in Utah.
After you finish the course, you must either:
Store the certificate of completion in the DWR Hunting and Fishing app
Print your certificate of completion and carry it with you in the field while “shed hunting”
Completing the course and having the certificate of completion with you allows you to gather antlers in many locations across Utah. However, some notable exceptions include:
Wildlife management areas: Many of the state’s wildlife management areas are closed in the winter and spring to protect animals and their habitat. Make sure to double check for any closures before entering a WMA to gather shed antlers. You can find a list of Utah’s wildlife management areas and any seasonal closures on the DWR website.
Private property: You must have written permission from the landowner before gathering antlers on private land.
Native American lands, national parks and many national monuments are also closed to antler and horn gathering.
Reporting “deadheads”
If you find a skull with the antlers or horns still attached (often referred to as a “deadhead”), it’s possible the animal was poached. Do not pick up or move the skull or disturb footprints or other evidence at the scene. Instead, you should report it through the Utah Deadhead Reporter app, which was released last year to increase the efficiency of those reports.
You will need to download the app when you have cellphone service, but once it is downloaded, a report can be submitted from the field even without cellphone service. To submit a report on the app, you will need to include:
Your DWR customer ID
A GPS location of the skull
Photos of the animal and surrounding scene
Other important details
In many instances if it’s determined that the animal died of natural causes or other non-suspicious circumstances, conservation officers will often let the person who reported the find keep the antlers.
In 2023, 665 reports were submitted through the Utah Deadhead Reporter app.
The DWR recently formed a committee to examine shed antler gathering in Utah. The DWR’s official proposals for the shed antler gathering rules will be presented at future public meetings later this year to gather public comments. Any potential changes that may be approved by the Utah Wildlife Board wouldn’t be implemented until 2025. Some of the proposed changes require legislative approval and were recently introduced in a legislative bill. If passed, those changes wouldn’t be in effect until July 1, 2024.
For more information about gathering shed antlers in Utah, call the nearest DWR office.
Post expires at 5:29am on Tuesday April 16th, 2024
OGDEN COMMUNITY JOB FAIR – A Multi-Employer Event!
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 2024 1pm – 4pm
LOCATION: The Monarch – 455 25th St. Ogden, UT 84401
EVENT INFO:
JOB SEEKERS & RECRUITERS can find more info @ http://www.compasscareerfairs.com
Post expires at 10:05pm on Tuesday April 30th, 2024
Attend virtual or in-person public meetings to learn more about the draft plan
MONTICELLO, Utah — The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service have announced five in-person and two virtual public meetings, which will provide forums for the public to learn more about the Bear Ears National Monument Draft Resource Management Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
On March 8, 2024, the agencies initiated a public comment period for the Draft Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, proposed recreational shooting closures, and proposed Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. Comments will be accepted through June 11, 2024.
The BLM and Forest Service will host seven public meetings. During the open houses, the agencies will provide a brief presentation twice (once at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.). Dates, times, and locations of the meetings are:
Marriot – University Park, 480 S Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108
Utah State University Blanding, 576 West 200 South, Blanding, UT, 84511
Twin Arrows Casino Resort, 22181 Resort Boulevard, Twin Arrows, AZ, 86004
ABQ Marriott Courtyard, 5151 Journal Center Boulevard., Albuquerque, NM, 87109
The BLM and Forest Service have incorporated considerable input from the Bears Ears Commission, the State of Utah, other cooperating agencies, and the public into the draft plan. The plan, associated documents and instructions for submitting comments electronically (preferred) are available on the BLM National NEPA Register. Comments may be submitted through the “Participate Now” function on the BLM National NEPA Register or mail input to ATTN: Monument Planning, BLM Monticello Field Office, 365 North Main, Monticello, UT 84535.
Images of Bears Ears National Monument are available on BLM’s Flickr and Forest Service’s Flickr.
Post expires at 6:02am on Friday May 17th, 2024
Post expires at 9:47am on Thursday October 31st, 2024