爱达荷州博伊西——美国官员周五公布了一项总体计划，旨在清除或改变美国西部大片地区的植被，以阻止在用于养牛、娱乐和濒危松鸡栖息地的土地上发生毁灭性的野火。
美国土地管理局发布的这项计划旨在限制35万平方英里主要为山艾树栖息地的野火，包括爱达荷、俄勒冈、华盛顿、加州、内华达州和犹他州的部分地区。
该计划耗资约200万美元，起源于奥巴马政府时期，当时官员们试图避免将鼠尾草列为《濒危物种法》保护的物种，该法案可能会严重限制采矿、牧场和娱乐活动。
近几十年来，巨大的牧场野火摧毁了大面积的艾树草原生态系统，而这些生态系统支撑着大约350种野生动物。专家表示，这场大火主要是由鼠尾草引起的，鼠尾草是一种入侵物种，它依靠大火蔓延到新的地区，同时杀死本地植物，包括鼠尾草属松鸡赖以生存的山艾树。
鼠尾草从未被列入名单，但仍然岌岌可危。特朗普政府在解除对采矿和其他采掘业限制的同时，继续努力控制巨大的火灾，这些火灾通常也会破坏牧场主所需的牧场。
政策和项目副主任威廉·佩里·彭德利(William Perry Pendley)在一份声明中说:“恢复山艾树社区可以提高牧场的可持续性，并可以减少入侵性一年生草的扩散。”“大盆地的人们依靠这些景观来谋生和娱乐，野生动物依靠它们来栖息。”
周五发布的计划没有授权任何具体的项目。相反，它的分析可以用来确定项目的处理方法，包括规定的火灾、燃料中断和其他措施，以防止或限制近几十年来恶化的大规模火灾。
美国土地管理人员通常通过撰写环境影响声明来分析拟议的项目，以避免无意中损害环境的某些方面。
周五发布的计划被称为纲领性环境影响声明。官员们说，它的分析可以用来帮助确定“项目级”环境影响声明，而不必重复以前的研究，节省时间和金钱。
具体来说，该机构表示，当土地管理人员寻求特定项目的批准时，该文件可用于帮助当地土地管理人员遵守环境法，即《国家环境政策法》。
西部流域项目的执行主任埃里克·莫尔瓦尔抨击该文件本质上是一种在保护野生动物的同时让牧场主受益的土地管理方式。
“通过这个项目，BLM显然是想给自己写一张空白支票，在没有任何进一步的输入或详细分析的情况下，进行大规模的破坏性植被清除，”他说。"这是一个机构，其植被操纵的记录已经压倒性地导致了栖息地的破坏."
在一个相关的问题上，该局去年夏天批准了一项计划，通过在165码(150米)宽的狭长土地上修建大约11000英里(18000公里)的燃料中断，限制爱达荷州、俄勒冈州、加利福尼亚州和内华达州的山艾树栖息地的野火。
生态学家对该计划的反应不一，指出它将破坏栖息地，并可能伤害一些野生动物，包括松鸡。然而，他们指出，大规模的，有时是不可阻挡的野火会摧毁大片的栖息地。
周五公布的计划可能会导致更多的燃料中断。其他处理方法包括机械移除植被、指定的火、有针对性的放牧和重新植被。
Plan released to reduce massive wildfires in US West
BOISE, Idaho -- U.S. officials on Friday released an overarching plan for removing or changing vegetation over a huge swath of the U.S. West to stop devastating wildfires on land used for cattle ranching, recreation and habitat for imperiled sage grouse.
The plan released by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management aims to limit wildfires in a 350,000-square-mile area of mainly sagebrush habitat that includes parts of Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and Utah.
The plan, which cost about $2 million, originated during the Obama administration as officials sought to avoid listing sage grouse as protected under the Endangered Species Act, which could have severely limited mining, ranching and recreation.
Giant rangeland wildfires in recent decades have destroyed vast areas of sagebrush steppe ecosystems that support some 350 species of wildlife. Experts say the blazes have mainly been driven by cheatgrass, an invasive species that relies on fire to spread to new areas while killing native plants, including sagebrush on which sage grouse depend.
Sage grouse were never listed but remain imperiled. The Trump administration, while lifting restrictions on mining and other extractive industries, moved ahead with efforts to control the giant blazes that typically also destroy rangeland needed by cattle ranchers.
“Restoring sagebrush communities improves the sustainability of working rangelands and can reduce the expansion of invasive annual grasses,” Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Perry Pendley said in a statement. “People in the Great Basin depend on these landscapes for their livelihoods and recreation, and wildlife rely on them for habitat.”
The plan released Friday does not authorize any specific projects. Instead, its analysis can be used to OK treatments for projects involving prescribed fires, fuel breaks and other measures to prevent or limit massive blazes that have worsened in recent decades.
U.S. land managers typically analyze proposed projects by writing environmental impact statements to avoid inadvertently harming some aspect of the environment.
The plan released Friday is called a programmatic environmental impact statement. Its analysis can be used to help OK “project-level” environmental impact statements without having to duplicate previous studies, saving time and money, officials said.
Specifically, the agency said the document can be used to help local land managers comply with an environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act, when land managers seek approval for specific projects.
Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, blasted the document as essentially a way to manage land to benefit ranchers while harming wildlife.
“With this project, the BLM is clearly trying to write itself a blank check to do large and damaging vegetation removal without any further input or detailed analysis,” he said. “This is an agency whose track record of vegetation manipulation has overwhelmingly resulted in habitat destruction.”
In a related matter, the bureau last summer approved a plan to limit wildfires in sagebrush habitat in Idaho, Oregon, California and Nevada by building some 11,000 miles (18,000 kilometers) of fuel breaks on strips of land up to 165 yards (150 meters) wide.
Ecologists have offered mixed responses on that plan, noting it will fragment habitat and likely harm some wildlife, including sage grouse. However, they note, the massive and at times unstoppable wildfires can destroy huge chunks of habitat.
The plan released Friday could lead to more fuel breaks. Other treatments include mechanical removal of vegetation, prescribed fire, targeted grazing by cattle and revegetation.
