Notice2026-06602
National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Procedures for the Bureau of Land Management
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Published
April 6, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior Department
Abstract
This notice announces a proposed revision to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at DOI Handbook of NEPA Implementing Procedures (DOI NEPA Handbook) that supplements Chapter 1 of Part 516 of the Department of the Interior's (Department or DOI) Departmental Manual (516 DM 1). The proposed revision would add a new categorical exclusion (CE) for forest and woodland density management in the DOI Handbook of NEPA Implementing Procedures, Appendix 2: Bureau Categorical Exclusions.
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 65 (Monday, April 6, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 65 (Monday, April 6, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17299-17302]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-06602]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Secretary
[A2407-014-004-065516; #O2412-014-004-047181.1; LLHQ220000]
National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Procedures for the
Bureau of Land Management
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces a proposed revision to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures for the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) at DOI Handbook of NEPA Implementing
Procedures (DOI NEPA Handbook) that supplements Chapter 1 of Part 516
of the Department of the Interior's (Department or DOI) Departmental
Manual (516 DM 1). The proposed revision would add a new categorical
exclusion (CE) for forest and woodland density management in the DOI
Handbook of NEPA Implementing Procedures, Appendix 2: Bureau
Categorical Exclusions.
DATES: Submit written comments on or before May 6, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Comments on this Notice or the associated Substantiation
report may be submitted electronically to BLM National NEPA Register:
<a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov">https://eplanning.blm.gov</a> and search for DOI-BLM-HQ-2000-2026-0001-
OTHER_NEPA, or by mail to Wade Salverson, Forestry Lead, Division of
Forest, Rangeland and Vegetation Resources, at the Idaho State Office,
1387 S Vinnell Way, Boise, ID 83709.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wade Salverson, Forestry Lead,
Division of Forest, Rangeland and Vegetation Resources, at (202) 849-
0990, or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e59296848993809796a5878988cb828a93"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3d4a4e5c514b584f4e7d5f5150135a524b">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals in the United States who are
deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial
711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay
services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay
services offered within their country to make international calls to
the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The BLM manages roughly 248 million surface acres of public land
predominantly in the West, of which an estimated 58 million acres are
forested/woodlands. A significant portion of these lands are managed
under an active forest and woodland management approach, as guided by
individual BLM land use plans (LUPs). Active management is often
necessary for long-term sustainability due to widespread disruptions to
natural disturbance regimes--particularly fire. Over the past several
decades, forest structure and species composition on BLM-managed acres
has significantly changed because of insect outbreaks, disease,
drought, and forest density. As a result, BLM faces increased fuel
loading that has contributed to the increasing frequency of complex
fires on public lands and their threat to human life and property. This
has prompted BLM to review
[[Page 17300]]
existing programs and identify measures that would better enable
wildfire preparedness to protect human life and property in the
wildland urban interface.
In 2007, BLM administratively established CE C.7 (harvesting of
live trees <=70 acres with <=0.5 of a mile of temporary road) at
section 11.9 of the DOI NEPA Handbook. CE C.7 covers similar activities
to this new CE. At that time, BLM stated it would continue to compile
and review evidence to determine if additional actions should be
categorically excluded and may propose additional CEs or larger
treatment areas in the future (72 FR 45504). In addition, CE C.7 was
only based on U.S. Forest Service environmental assessments (EAs) from
prior to 2003 while the underlying verification report for this
proposed CE uses BLM data and more contemporary projects and
conditions. The existing CE for density management: (1) limited the BLM
to 70 acres or less of total disturbance; (2) limited the BLM to no
more than 0.5 mile of temporary road construction for the thinning
operation; and (3) and had not been revised in over 18 years. Since
2007, (a) BLM has developed a broader empirical record of forest and
woodland density management proposals and outcomes (Timber Sale
Information System (TSIS) queries and ePlanning NEPA records), (b) the
agency has documented substantial loss of and damage to forest
resources from severe disturbances exacerbated by forest or woodland
density, and (c) Congress has encouraged increasing the pace/scale of
risk-reduction activities via new statutory CEs for the U.S. Forest
Service (e.g., Healthy Forests Restoration Act sections 602, 603, and
605).
Upon review of the use of the existing CE, supporting information,
and its environmental assessment information, the Department is
proposing to establish this new CE to further support actions for
forest and woodland density management. The proposed CE covers
modification of tree density up to 5,000 acres of treatment area.
Active management through thinning can help development of desired
habitat and forest structure and composition, enhance resilience to
insect and disease, contribute to rural economies, and reduce future
wildfire fuel loads and hazards to wildland firefighters, the public,
and infrastructure. This proposed CE would also allow the BLM more
flexibility to quickly respond to high-risk conditions across larger
areas to provide for public and infrastructure safety, reduce the
potential for active crown fires that impact firefighter and public
safety, and contribute to one of the six principal or major uses of the
public lands identified in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, which recognizes ``the Nation's need for domestic sources of
timber and fiber.'' Further, this CE will provide an additional tool to
facilitate increased timber production and sound forest management in
accordance with Executive Order 14225, Immediate Expansion of American
Timber Production, 90 FR 11365 (March 1, 2025). As noted, the BLM
already uses its existing CE (C.7) that addresses density management
not to exceed 70 acres and intends to retain that CE; the BLM is
proposing this additional CE to increase its flexibility to respond to
forest management needs across larger areas. Based on review of the use
of the existing CE C.7 as part of this process, BLM does not intend to
pursue removal of the 70-acre CE nor revise that CE to encompass the
proposed scope of actions described in this proposal. The BLM sees a
need for both CE categories. The 70-acre CE provides a more limited
scope of actions that are useful. The BLM expects existing CE C.7 would
still be used for smaller areas where BLM has no need for the
additional tools this proposed CE would provide.
Following years of experience in conducting forest thinning without
significant effects, BLM has identified that establishing a CE for the
action is necessary to increase BLM's flexibility to respond to forest
health and wildfire concerns across larger areas, while keeping the
tailored focus of the action. The BLM notes that the existing 70-acre
limitation for categorically excluded timber density management
operations has proved insufficient to address the growing need for BLM
to authorize additional density management over greater acreage. One
5,000-acre density management sale represents 0.0000862 (or 1/116 of
1%) of the estimated 58 million acres of BLM forest and woodlands
managed by BLM today. The BLM manages 58 million acres of forests/
woodlands. Allowing BLM this tool to contract for more acres would
allow the agency to be more effective in its management. Given the vast
amount of BLM-managed acres requiring treatment to promote better
forest health and reduce fuel loading and wildfire risk, the BLM is
proposing to revise the 70-acre limit established nearly 20 years ago
to better adapt it to BLM's needs in managing those acres. Furthermore,
evaluating the more than 1,800 thinning-based timber sales conducted by
the agency since 1990 under EAs and associated Findings of No
Significant Impact (FONSIs) show that these treatment methods do not
significantly affect the quality of the human environment. BLM data
from the TSIS show that more than 325,000 acres have been commercially
thinned between 1990 and 2025. The BLM has evaluated its records and
has determined that the environmental review and implementation records
of these routine management actions demonstrate that this category of
actions normally do not significantly affect the quality of the human
environment and that establishment of a CE is warranted.
Establishing the proposed CE would enable BLM to ensure a timely
process for a density management project prior to a new fire season and
in preparation for the subsequent fire seasons. Wildfire trends show a
need to reduce fire severity and improve forest (or stand) resilience.
Between 2000 and 2024, the U.S. averaged 7.3 million acres burned
annually. According to National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) data
(National Centers for Environmental Information [NCEI], 2026, <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/wildfires/12/6">https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/wildfires/12/6</a>), in 2021 the United
States hit the highest number of acres burned since 2006, with a total
of 10,325,514 acres burned. On BLM-managed lands, wildfire burned an
average of 236,530 acres of forest annually between 2009 and 2024.
High-profile events such as the 2018 Camp Fire in California--which
burned 153,336 acres (including 4,070 acres of BLM land), resulted in
85 fatalities, and caused billions of dollars in damages--highlighting
the urgent need for proactive management. Further, between January 1,
2025, and November 28, 2025, 4,927,904 acres burned due to wildfires on
federal land. Establishing this CE for use by the BLM will assist in
reducing fire severity to battle these unprecedented and destructive
fires and will aid in keeping the American people safe.
Further, establishing the proposed CE would enable the BLM to
ensure the efficient usage of government resources in serving the
American public. While EAs have long been used to analyze density
management projects, the NEPA statute and agency implementing
regulations allow for the development of CEs--a tool to reduce
protracted, repetitive analysis for actions that normally do not have
significant environmental impacts.
Additionally, on June 3, 2023, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of
2023 was enacted into law, revising NEPA for the first time in over 50
years. The revisions included codification of deadlines and page limits
for the preparation of NEPA
[[Page 17301]]
documents by federal agencies, procedures for determining level of
review and adoption of categorical exclusions, as well as a number of
other reforms that further demonstrate that the goal of NEPA is to
``inform agency decision-making, not to paralyze it.'' Seven County
Infrastructure Coalition v Eagle County., Colo.,605 U.S. 168, 173
(2025). The Fiscal Responsibility Act codified in law the definition of
a Categorical Exclusion as ``. . . a category of actions that a Federal
agency has determined normally does not significantly affect the
quality of the human environment within the meaning of section
102(2)(C).'' 42 U.S.C. 4336e(1). The cost and time associated with
repeated analysis can hinder the BLM's ability to respond effectively
to fire risk and other forest management needs. EA processes can be
time-consuming. For example, the Marys Peak field office in BLM-Oregon
began an EA titled Central Boulder Forest Management on a 400-acre
timber sale in January 2019 that was not completed until July of 2021
even when it found that there would not be significant impacts. Because
forest thinning improves the overall forest health, increases stand
resilience to wildfire, and enhances firefighter safety and
effectiveness, contracting larger treatment areas will improve
operational efficiency and reduce per-acre costs for the agency.
As noted, the ability to determine that an action is excluded
pursuant to a CE from the requirement to prepare an environmental
document under NEPA, thus forestalling the need to prepare an EA or
environmental impact statement (EIS), can streamline project
authorization. The increased efficiency in project authorization can
help the BLM address the wildfire crisis and protect communities,
habitat, and forest resources from high severity wildfire and other
stressors, apply proven, science-informed treatment methods more
efficiently, and be more effective with time and public resources by
avoiding redundant environmental reviews that do not yield new
information. This proposed CE would provide an additional tool to
facilitate sound forest management and is in direct response to Section
(f) of Executive Order 14225, Immediate Expansion of American Timber
Production, 90 FR 11365 (March 1, 2025).
NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., requires Federal agencies to consider
the environmental effects of their proposed actions in their decision-
making processes and inform and engage the public in that process.
To comply with NEPA, agencies determine the appropriate level of
review of any major Federal action--an EIS, EA, or a CE. See generally,
42 U.S.C. 4336(b); 43 CFR part 46; DOI NEPA Handbook section 1.2
(2025). Where it is reasonably foreseeable that significant
environmental effects are likely, the agency must prepare an EIS and
document its decision. See generally, 42 U.S.C. 4336(b)(1); DOI NEPA
Handbook section 1.2(a)(5)(ii). Where appropriate, an agency may
prepare an environmental assessment, and if it reaches a FONSI, it need
not prepare an EIS. See generally, 42 U.S.C. 4336(b)(2); DOI NEPA
Handbook section 1.6; section 1.2(a)(4).
Under NEPA, agencies may establish categorical exclusions--
categories of actions that the agency has determined normally do not
significantly affect the quality of the human environment--in their
agency NEPA implementing procedures (42 U.S.C. 4336e(1)). An agency may
also adopt a CE listed in another agency's NEPA procedures consistent
with section 109 of NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4336c).
Under the Department's NEPA procedures, if a bureau determines that
a CE covers a proposed action, it then evaluates the proposed action
for the presence of extraordinary circumstances, which are factors or
circumstances that indicate a normally categorically excluded action
may have a significant effect (43 CFR 46.205, 46.215). If the bureau
cannot categorically exclude the proposed action following review for
extraordinary circumstances, it will prepare an EA or EIS, as
appropriate, before issuing any decision to authorize the action (43
CFR 46.205(c), 42 U.S.C. 4336(b)).
The BLM is proposing to establish this new CE by substantiating the
proposed new CE with sufficient information to conclude that the
actions included in the category do not have a significant effect on
the quality of the human environment and provides this substantiation
in a written record that is made publicly available (see Addresses). In
developing this new CE, the Department consulted with CEQ in accordance
with 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(B) and is providing notification to the public
about the proposed establishment of the CE through this notice.
II. Categorical Exclusion Justification
The BLM finds that the type of actions described in this proposed
CE do not normally have a significant effect on the human environment.
This finding is based on the BLM's analysis of these types of actions
as documented in the BLM's Substantiation Report for this proposed new
CE and supporting documents and the relevant scientific literature. The
Substantiation Report explains that because the restrictions on the
actions included in the CE limit surface disturbance and access road
construction, the Department and the BLM conclude that the types of
actions included in this proposed CE do not normally result in
significant environmental effects and therefore warrant establishment
of the CE. The Substantiation Report summarizes the review of 84 EAs
that analyzed density management actions in forests or woodlands that
supported FONSIs to demonstrate the finding that actions included in
the proposed CE would not normally result in significant effects to the
human environment. The Substantiation Report documents evaluation of
the BLM NEPA analyses and post-implementation observations as well as
available scientific research on the effects of routine actions
included in the new proposed CE over time and over different geographic
areas.
The Department and the BLM consulted with CEQ on the Substantiation
Report for the proposed CE consistent with section 102(2)(B) of NEPA,
42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(B). If finalized, the Department would add this CE to
the BLM's NEPA procedures, in its DOI Handbook of NEPA Implementing
Procedures, Appendix 2: Bureau Categorical Exclusions. As with other
administratively developed CEs for Department bureaus, when applying
this CE, Responsible Officials would evaluate proposed actions eligible
for this CE to determine whether any extraordinary circumstances are
present in accordance with the requirements in the Department's NEPA
implementing procedures at 43 CFR 46.205 and 46.215. The Responsible
Official would document this review and, for BLM, include this
documentation in the information posted on the BLM's NEPA register
website. If the Responsible Official cannot use this CE to support a
decision to authorize density management in forests or woodlands due to
the presence of extraordinary circumstances, the Responsible Official
will prepare an EA or EIS before authorizing such activities,
consistent with 43 CFR 46.205(c) and 42 U.S.C. 4336(b).
III. Text for the Departmental Handbook of NEPA Implementing Procedures
The Department's NEPA procedures are proposed to be modified as
follows.
[[Page 17302]]
The DOI Handbook of NEPA Implementing Procedures, Appendix 2: Bureau
Categorical Exclusions would include the following language:
* * * Bureau of Land Management
11.9 Actions Eligible for a Categorical Exclusion (CE)
* * * * *
C. Forestry
(11) *Modification of tree density up to 5,000 acres of
treatment area. Does not include silvicultural methods that are
intended to regenerate whole stands, such as even-aged regeneration
harvest, clearcutting, or variable retention harvest, or vegetation
management intended to convert forest or woodlands to non-forest
vegetation cover.
(a) Covered actions include:
(i) Cutting, yarding, and the use of landings and skid trails to
facilitate the removal of commercial and non-commercial trees.
(ii) Chipping/grinding or removal of residual slash.
(iii) Group selection silvicultural treatment to promote
regeneration of shade intolerant species and early successional
habitat in an uneven-aged context not to exceed 2-acre individual
patches and 10 percent of the treatment area. Group selection
openings will retain overstory legacy elements consistent with the
applicable land use plan (e.g., large fire resilient trees, snags).
(iv) Pile burning or underburning of fuels created by covered
actions described in subparagraphs (i)-(iii) of this paragraph and
fuels within or in close proximity to those actions' treatment
boundaries whether created by those actions or not.
(v) Seeding or planting necessary to accelerate native species
re-establishment.
(b) Such actions:
(i) Must not exceed 5 miles of new permanent road construction
to facilitate the covered actions and all segments must conform to
applicable land use planning decisions with route-specific
designations disclosed where travel management planning has been
completed.
(ii) May include maintenance and renovation of existing roads as
needed.
(iii) May include construction of temporary roads not to exceed
a ratio of 2.5 miles per 1,000 acres of treatment area as needed,
provided they are not part of the bureau's permanent transportation
system, are designed to standards appropriate for their intended use
(safety, erosion control, sedimentation prevention, and resource
protection), are not needed for long-term resource management, and
are decommissioned and stabilized after use to minimize erosion and
protect water quality.
(iv) Must disclose design features in documentation of finding
that an action is excluded pursuant to the use of this categorical
exclusion that address the following resource considerations,
consistent with applicable land use plan decisions, or, where no
plan requirements apply, and specify how these considerations are
addressed:
(1) Snag and downed wood--amount to be created or retained;
(2) Erosion control--specifications or measures (e.g., water
bars, dispersed slash);
(3) Soil compaction--criteria for avoidance, minimization, or
remediation;
(4) Logging systems--types and scope of constraints e.g.,
seasonal, location, extent, etc.);
(5) Seasonal operations--purpose and extent of operating
restrictions;
(6) Invasive species--measures to prevent or limit spread;
(7) Riparian areas--buffer widths and/or operating restrictions;
(8) Prescribed fire--operating constraints for underburning or
pile burning; and
(9) Temporary roads--decommissioning standards.
(c) Definitions:
(i) Permanent road: A road constructed or reconstructed and
managed as part of the bureau's permanent transportation system.
(ii) Temporary road: A road authorized by contract, permit,
lease, written authorization, or emergency operation, not added to
the permanent system, and decommissioned after use.
(iii) Group selection: An uneven-aged harvest method where
groups of trees are removed to promote spatial heterogeneity,
regeneration of desired tree species, or the establishment of new
cohorts.
* * * * *
Authority: NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Stephen G. Tryon,
Director, Director, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2026-06602 Filed 4-3-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-27-P
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