Final State Director’s Special Status Species List

United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Oregon State Office
P.O. Box 2965
Portland, Oregon 97208

AUG 3, 2021

IN REPLY REFER TO:
6840 (OR-931) P

EMS TRANSMISSION 08/03/2021
Permanent Instruction Memorandum No. OR-2021-004 

To: All District Managers
From: State Director, Oregon/Washington
Subject: State Director’s Special Status Species List

Program Area: Special Status Species (SSS)

Purpose: The purpose of this instruction memorandum (IM) is to issue a final, updated State Director’s Special Status Species List (List). The List is developed as an interagency effort with U.S. Forest Service Region 6.

Administrative or Mission Related: Mission.

Policy/Action: This IM officially updates the List, which includes federally designated threatened, endangered, and proposed species, as well as, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sensitive species for the BLM Oregon/Washington (OR/WA). The updated List reflects comments and corrections received from the field in response to the April 26, 2021, email requesting review of the draft, updated list. In a change from previous versions of the List, the occurrence statuses (documented or suspected) of the National Forests in Region 6 are included. This will allow for a broader understanding of species distribution in Oregon and Washington on Federal lands.

The attachments to this IM include the final List (Attachment 1) and the criteria for determining inclusion as a BLM-designated sensitive species (Attachment 2). Both attachments are available for download from the Interagency Special Status/Sensitive Species Program (ISSSSP) website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/sfpnw/issssp/agency-policy/.

Management of BLM-designated sensitive species follows the Special Status Species (SSS) policy as identified in BLM Manual 6840 (12/12/2008). In addition, observations, surveys, and site information of the List’s wildlife and botanical species shall be entered into the BLM OR/WA corporate database Geographic Biotic Observations (GeoBOB). Annually, all information pertaining to the List’s species that is collected in the previous year is to be entered into the GeoBOB database by March 1 of the following year. Observations, surveys, and site information of the List’s fish species shall be entered into the agency’s Aquatic Data & Tools corporate database (no annual data entry deadline has been established).

Timeframe: Apply the updated List included in Attachment 1 to all projects initiated after the date of this IM. Projects initiated prior to the date of this IM may apply either the updated List transmitted in this IM or the SSS list in effect when the project was initiated. For the purpose of this IM, "initiated" means that a signed, dated document such as a project initiation letter, scoping letter, or Federal Register Notice has been completed for the project.

The List will remain in place until the next update (normally about every three years) except for changes relating to Federal listing status. You will be notified whenever Federal listing-related changes are made (for example, if a species becomes federally proposed or listed as threatened or endangered), and these changes become effective effective as of the effective date in the Federal Register Notice. Similarly, newly designated Federal candidate species are immediately considered BLM sensitive (if not already sensitive) on BLM districts where the species is documented or suspected to occur.

Budget Impact: None.

Background: The State Director transmitted new criteria (July 25, 2007, IM-OR-2007-072, Attachment 1) jointly approved by the U.S. Forest Service Region 6 Regional Forester and the BLM OR/WA State Director for determination of species included within the BLM SSS and Forest Service Sensitive Species Program. The new criteria were designed to make the two agencies more consistent in their approaches to the development of lists of species with conservation concerns. Subsequent memorandums (IM-OR-2008-038, IM-OR-2012-018, IMOR-2015-028, OR-P-IM-2019-003) reissued updated SSS lists.

Bureau of Land Management Manual Section 6840 (Special Status Species Management) was updated in December 2008. The BLM Headquarters Office asked state offices to review their criteria for identifying sensitive species and update their lists. Policy objectives are to initiate proactive conservation measures that reduce or eliminate threats to BLM sensitive species to minimize the likelihood of and the need for listing under the Endangered Species Act (BLM Manual 6840.02). The manual, policy, and IM-2009-039 can be found at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/sfpnw/issssp/agency-policy/.

Pages of Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: None.

Instruction Memorandums Affected: Supersedes OR-P-IM-2019-003.

Coordination: Branch of Biological Resources (OR-931); OR/WA Districts; and Forest Service, Region 6, Natural Resources.

Contact: Rob Huff, ISSSSP Conservation Planning Coordinator, rhuff@blm.gov.

Districts with unions are reminded to notify their unions of this IB and satisfy any bargaining obligations before implementation. Your servicing Human Resources Office or Labor Relations Specialist can provide you with assistance in this matter.

Signed by
Barry R. Bushue
State Director, Oregon/Washington

Authenticated by
K. Wentworth
Data Records Administrator

Attachments:
1 – Final OR/WA State Director’s SSS list
2 – Criteria for determining FS R6 and OR/WA BLM Sensitive Species

Distribution:

BLM Distribution:
HQ-220
HQ-230
OR930 (Rachele (Shelley) Moore)
OR931 (John Wilson, Susan Carter, Glenn Frederick, Tera Hinkley, Bruce Hollen, Rob Huff, Scott Lightcap, Kelli Van Norman)
blm_or_botany_all@blm.gov
blm_or_wildlife_all@blm.gov
blm_or_fish_biologists_all@blm.gov
blm_or_geobob_users@blm.gov
 
Forest Service, Region 6 Distribution:
John Chatel, john.chatel@usda.gov
Clint Emerson, clint.emerson@usda.gov
Carol Hughes, carol.hughes@usda.gov
Darci Rivers-Pankratz, darci.pankratz@usda.gov