BLM OR/WA - Special Status Plant Monitoring, Lakeview District

The BLM is tasked with conservation of populations of plants that are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and populations that require special management to reduce the likelihood of future listing under ESA. Collectively, these plants are referred to as Special Status Species (SSS). Conservation of SSS includes surveying, inventorying, monitoring, and protecting existing populations, as well as re-establishment of new populations. Monitoring is conducted to determine the abundance, habitat requirements, life history traits, population trends, and potential threats to habitat degradation in order to mitigate potential impacts from land management decisions. Due to the rarity of many of SSS plants, there is an information gap on the plants� biology that makes effective resource management decisions difficult. Successful restoration projects rely heavily on accurate plant biology information. The objective of this program is to re-visit known Special Status Species populations on Federal Land within the BLM Lakeview District in order to update previous monitoring data and establish new monitoring projects, as needed, in order to assess and document abundance, reproduction, population trends, soil characteristics and potential threats. Additionally compare current populations to the previous monitoring data to estimate population trends for specific Special Status Plant Species sites; develop long term monitoring protocol; assess habitat degradation threats and impacts; and develop recommendations for management actions needed to ensure the long-term viability of these populations; and conduct surveys in potential habitat for new occurrences of Special Status Plant Species.