We are pleased to announce that the Lakeview BLM Wildlife Program is the recipient of the 2021 Civic Recognition Conservation Award!
We acknowledge, Todd Forbes, Jami Ludwig, Kate Yates, John Owens (now USFWS), and Glenn Lorton (retired) for their dedication to science based approaches to conservation, and their collaborative approach to land use management. The thoughtful letters of support for the Lakeview BLM team indicate the collaborative and inclusive process pursued by the wildlife staff has resulted in cutting edge science to answer the important conservation questions of the sagebrush biome. From bats, pygmy rabbits to greater sage-grouse Lakeview BLM has been a leader in developing the science to drive their management decisions. Notably, they have been at the helm of a long-term research (2009-present) examining the effects of landscape scale juniper removal on sage-grouse.
Since 2009, much has changed, Todd Forbes (then biologist) is now the District Manager for Lakeview BLM, and several biologist have come and gone. However, as he moved up the ranks during the project he passed that torch onto folks like Glen Lorton, John Owens, Kate Yates, Jami Ludwig to ensure that we can tell the complete story of this restoration effort of the sagebrush steppe. One thing has not changed, however, and that is the strength of the partnership and willingness to see the project through to its end. Which is no small feat for an agency with a multi-use mandate and the multitude of priorities that come with it.
Cutting juniper, even on a scale of thousands of hectares, is easy. However, planning juniper treatments to remove the trees while minimizing impacts to the shrub component requires critical thinking. The wildlife staff at Lakeview BLM has been the leader in designing juniper treatments that emphasize retention of the shrub component in the understory. They did so in true collaboration and included specialists from fire and range programs and at times the environmental community to ensure all concerns were addressed. Their collaborative efforts paid dividends when it came to the public process and finalization of the environmental assessment. As litigious as these times can be for public land management agencies not one of the juniper treatments in South Warner were legally challenged, which speaks volumes to the science based and collaborative approach of the Lakeview BLM wildlife-staff.