Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge Begins Management Plan Revision
OutdoorHub 05.22.12
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is revising the 1994 Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge (NAR) to update and, where needed, revise future management direction for the Refuge.
The plan revision process is a way for the Service and the public to review and re-evaluate management goals and objectives for conservation of fish, wildlife, and their habitats, and wildlife-dependent recreation opportunities that are compatible with the purposes for Hart Mountain NAR and the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Throughout the CCP revision process, the Service provides participation opportunities for the public; tribal, state, and local governments; and organizations. The Service encourages public input in the form of key topics, issues, concerns, ideas, and suggestions for the future management of Hart Mountain NAR.
Two public information meetings are scheduled:
May 31, 2012: 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Daly Middle School, 220 South H Street, Lakeview, Oregon
June 4, 2012: 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Plush Elementary School Plush, Oregon
The Refuge encompasses approximately 270,000 acres of high desert, sagebrush-steppe ecosystem in Oregon’s Lake County. It was established in 1936 as a range and breeding ground for pronghorn antelope and other species of wildlife. Other refuge purposes are as an inviolate sanctuary for migratory birds; the development, advancement, management conservation, and protection of fish and wildlife resources; fish and wildlife- oriented recreational development; the protection of natural resources; and the conservation of endangered or threatened species.
The refuge currently represents one of the few large areas of sagebrush-steppe habitat in the Great Basin not grazed by livestock or wild horses. The refuge provides a variety of key habitats for a host of species endemic to sagebrush-steppe, including pronghorn, mule deer, greater sage-grouse, pygmy rabbit, and other native species such as American pika, mountain lion, migratory birds, desert fishes, and a range of rare plants and invertebrates.
Written comments on the scope of issues to be analyzed in the revised CCP or questions should be submitted online through the website listed above or mailed to Sheldon-Hart Mountain NWRC, P.O. Box 111, Lakeview, OR 97630. The Service requests your comments by July 24, 2012, for topics you would like to see covered in the revised CCP. More opportunities to provide comment will occur throughout the planning process.
