Medford, Ore. – The Bureau of Land Management, Medford District, will hold a public open house on Thursday, November 14, 2019, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at the Jackson County Expo. The BLM will have displays to help explain the draft chapters and BLM staff specialists will be available to answer questions and provide information and gather feedback on the development of the Integrated Vegetation Management for Resilient Lands Programmatic Environmental Assessment. This environmental assessment would assist the BLM in increasing the pace and scale of resiliency and restoration work. The integrated vegetation management represents a combination of methods the BLM could use to improve habitats, decrease catastrophic fire risk, and improve resilience. These methods include: silvicultural or other vegetation treatments, fire and fuels management activities, harvest methods, and restoration activities. Many forest stands in southwest Oregon are overly dense and susceptible to loss from wildfire, drought, and insect infestations. In some areas, high quality habitat that supports recovery of threatened and endangered wildlife species is lacking. In other areas, conifer forest encroachment into meadows and oak woodlands threaten conservation of threatened, endangered, or sensitive botanical species. The documents associated with the environmental assessment are available on the BLM’s ePlanning website at: https://go.usa.gov/xmuJV Jackson County Expo, Mace building, 1 Peninger Rd, Central Point, OR 97502. The public will be able to submit written comments at this open house. Comments can also be submitted online at: https://go.usa.gov/xmuJV. The comment period for the Integrated Vegetation Management for Resilient Lands Programmatic Environmental Assessment closes on XXX
