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A FRAMEWORK FOR NEPA ANALYSES USING AIM DATA
Author
Humphries, Joel
Billings, Ben
Davidson, Zoe
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) data provides new opportunities to augment information used in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses to determine if land health standards are achieved to provide information for grazing permit renewals. We outline a framework of how to incorporate AIM data into NEPA Affected Environment and Impact Analysis sections using current AIM data analysis tools. �First, we discuss how synopses of AIM data like Environmental Site Summaries or frequency distributions describe baseline conditions in the Affected Environment section of NEPA, with examples from the San Luis Valley Field Office in CO. �Implementing the framework begins when an interdisciplinary team (IDT) establishes quantifiable benchmarks, ideally identified in current Resource Management Plan or Land Health Standards. Ecological site descriptions, policy, reference networks, and scientific literature can also inform benchmarks. AIM data within the analysis area are then evaluated against these benchmarks to determine if the monitoring and management objectives are met. In conjunction with AIM data analysis, the IDT determines additional lines of evidence as needed for the NEPA impact analyses. As appropriate, additional AIM data at random or targeted locations, use-based data, remote sensing data, and wildlife data are all considered in this multiple lines of evidence analysis to help in determining the land management decision. Second, we discuss how AIM data can be used in the Impact Analysis section to report on what resources are meeting, or not meeting land health standards or other appropriate quantifiable management objectives. �By providing additional site and landscape scale information, AIM data can be used to improve NEPA analyses using quantitative data and provide better information to land managers.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Reno, NV
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts