Bureau of Land Management

Grew out of FS and Interagency efforts NLCS Division Chief on board as early as 2002 Wilderness Character Monitoring Team formed in December 2009  1 WO; 3 SO; 4 FO ; SO ecologist  Implementation Guide  based on 2006 “Reader’s Digest” version of FS Tech Guide  first version April 2010  now version 1.5 (April 2012) Director issued IM in August 2010

Universal measures, techniques, and definitions Process

Schedule assigned for all 221 areas Process

Baseline collected for 53 areas (24%) Implementation Guide refinements have improved data collection Acceptance, if not priority, in the Bureau  faster than anticipated  more necessary than anticipated  involves many specialists in office Incorporated into BLM Manual 6340 Accomplishments

Behind schedule  illness and lapsed positions  other workloads (LWC Inventory; energy development) No central, on-line data repository or analysis capabilities Missing measures – “native biota” Challenges

In your opinion, the BLM’s top wilderness character monitoring priority should be to: 1) Finish baseline data gathering by 2014, even if there are some data gaps that will have to be filled in later and there is no on-line data reporting and storage capability. 2) Develop complete suite of measures for “native biota,” even if this means the baseline completion target of 2014 is missed and there is no on-line data reporting and storage capability. 3) Finish on-line data reporting and storage, even if this means the baseline completion target of 2014 is missed and not all measures are defined.

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