“A bill to provide for the establishment of a land health management program on Federal land in Malheur County, Oregon, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section defines terms used in the Act, including "Bureau" (Bureau of Land Management), "County" (Malheur County, Oregon), "Federal land" (land in the County managed by the Bureau), "long-term ecological health" (the ability of an ecosystem to maintain composition, structure, activity, and resilience over time, including diversity of plant and animal communities, habitats, connectivity, and sustainable conditions), "Malheur C.E.O. Group" (the group established by section 4(b)), "operational flexibility" (with respect to grazing on Federal land, a seasonal adjustment of livestock positioning or adjustment of water source placement pursuant to the program with written notice), "program" (the Malheur County Grazing Management Program authorized under section 3(a)), "Secretary" (Secretary of the Interior), and "State" (Oregon).
This section establishes the Malheur County Grazing Management Program on federal lands, administered by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with applicable law (including regulations) and Bureau of Land Management Instruction Memorandum 2018-109 (as in effect on September 30, 2021), to provide authorized grazing permittees and lessees with increased operational flexibility to improve long-term ecological health. The section directs the Secretary, at the request of a permittee or lessee renewing a grazing permit or lease, to develop and analyze under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 at least one alternative providing such flexibility, in consultation with the permittee or lessee; affected federal and state agencies; the Malheur C.E.O. Group; the Burns Paiute Tribe or Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes, as applicable; other landowners in the affected allotment; and interested members of the public. If an applicable monitoring plan is adopted, the section requires the Secretary to allow interim variances to existing permit or lease terms due to significant changes in weather, forage production, fire or drought effects, or other temporary conditions, including (1) adjusting season-of-use dates by not earlier than 14 days before the specified beginning date or later than 14 days after the specified ending date (unless otherwise specified in the allotment management plan), with written notice to the Bureau of Land Management at least 2 business days prior; (2) adjusting pasture rotation dates by not more than 14 days based on vegetation stage and soil condition, with 2 business days' prior written notice; (3) adjusting livestock or wildlife water structure placements by not more than 100 yards from an associated existing road, pipeline, or structure (subject to applicable law), with 2 business days' prior written notice; and (4) making immediate adjustments if monitoring indicates a need to achieve ecological health or avoid degradation, with written notice to the Bureau and the paragraph (2) consultation parties. The section further requires the Secretary to adopt cooperative rangeland monitoring plans and health objectives, in consultation with permittees or lessees and the paragraph (2) parties and using existing or new scientifically supportable data, to (1) apply to permit renewal flexibility actions; identify appropriate flexibility situations, measurement methods, and progress toward ecological health; and include detailed condition standards, monitoring protocols and schedules, data responsibilities, evaluation schedules, data uses, adjustment provisions, communication criteria, and annual reports on flexibility effects; and (2) cover interim operational flexibilities through cooperative rangeland utilization monitoring.
This section establishes the Malheur C.E.O. Group as an 18-member advisory body to propose and facilitate eligible projects on Federal and non-Federal lands and waters in Malheur County, Oregon. The group consists of 10 voting members (5 representing private interests including livestock grazing, recreation or tourism, and irrigation districts; 2 from the environmental community; 1 from the hunting or fishing community; and 2 from Indian Tribes) and 8 nonvoting members providing technical assistance (2 from specified Federal agencies including the Bureau of Land Management; 2 from specified State agencies; and 4 from local government units). Eligible projects, which must comply with existing law, include ecological restoration; range improvements for livestock, fish, wildlife, or habitat; invasive species management; springs and water infrastructure restoration; cultural site conservation; economic development or recreation management; and research, monitoring, or analysis. Projects require group consensus (unanimous agreement by voting members at a quorum) or, absent consensus after three votes, quorum approval (provided no Federal lands or funds are used); Federal-land or Federal-fund projects additionally require applicable Federal agency head approval within 14 business days (with written reasons if denied). The group may accept donations into a trust fund to finance approved projects (including those on Federal lands or using Federal funds if agency-approved) and is subject to a Federal cost-sharing requirement (text cuts off mid-sentence). Members serve three-year terms, with appointments by agency heads or represented groups and vacancies filled accordingly.
This section designates approximately 1,102,393 acres of federal land in the county, as generally depicted on referenced maps dated December 12, 2023, as 22 wilderness areas—including Fifteenmile Creek Wilderness (61,647 acres), Oregon Canyon Mountains Wilderness (53,559 acres), Twelvemile Creek Wilderness (38,099 acres), and 19 others named therein—and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System in accordance with the Wilderness Act. Wilderness areas must be administered to preserve their wilderness character (i.e., natural conditions and opportunities for solitude), generally prohibiting roads, structures, motorized equipment, and commercial enterprise except as provided (16 U.S.C. 1133).
This section directs the Secretary of the Interior to (1) accept title to and hold in trust for the Burns Paiute Tribe, as part of its reservation, lands conveyed by or on behalf of the Tribe comprising the Jonesboro Ranch (21,548 acres of federal land and 6,686 acres of Tribe-owned private land, for approximately 28,234 acres total) and approximately 4,137 acres of state land (Road Gulch and Black Canyon pastures), subject to seeking a land exchange with the state within three years after enactment; and (2) hold in trust, as part of the reservation, approximately 2,500 acres of federal land in the Castle Rock Wilderness Study Area (i.e., BLM land managed to protect wilderness characteristics). The section further directs the Secretary to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Tribe for co-stewardship of the adjacent Castle Rock Co-Stewardship Area (ensuring consideration of tribal interests and protection of cultural, archaeological, and natural resources with cultural significance), authorizes tribal management agreements for the area, permits continuation of pre-enactment grazing, reserves existing water rights, and withdraws both trust and co-stewardship lands from public land laws, mining laws, and mineral/geothermal leasing and materials laws (subject to valid existing rights). Authorizes $2 million for FY2026 to carry out these provisions.