CHUBBUCK, Idaho -- Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge is seeking public review and comment on its Draft Upland and Meadow Complex Habitat Management Plan. This habitat management plan (HMP) describes proposed changes to how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would manage approximately 4,000 acres of meadow and upland habitats to benefit migratory birds and other wildlife.
The refuge has prepared a compatibility determination for grazing and haying, as well as an Environmental Assessment that compares current management of these habitats to other potential options under the HMP. The Service will accept comments received or postmarked on or before August 27, 2022.
Currently, the refuge uses grazing and haying under Cooperative Land Management Agreements as tools to provide early spring foraging habitat for greater sandhill cranes, Canada geese, waterfowl, white-faced ibises, and other waterbirds. Under both management alternatives, haying and grazing would be conducted using Cooperative Agriculture Agreements, which under Service policy must be advertised and awarded using a competitive bid process.
Managed livestock grazing is currently the most economically feasible tool to provide the short-grass habitat conditions preferred by these birds, and to control exotic grasses such as smooth brome.
About 850 acres of the refuge are currently grazed annually, while 1,400 acres are grazed in a two of three-year rotation. Under the HMP, all grazing would be on a two of three-year rotation by 2030. Meadows on the north side of the marsh, adjacent to open water, would be ungrazed to provide nesting and brood rearing habitat for waterfowl. In total, about 400 fewer acres would be grazed under the HMP than current levels, but the number of cattle that may be grazed would increase due to higher stocking levels.
Ungrazed units would be managed using haying and prescribed fire. Other actions proposed under the HMP include gradual retirement of 89 acres of crop fields by 2040, and restoration of riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian habitat along Eagle Creek. Other riparian restoration, and management of wetland habitats, would be addressed in future planning efforts.
The Draft Habitat Management Plan and Environmental Assessment is available for review online.
The public may submit comments or requests for additional information through any of the following methods:
• Email: Southeast_Idaho_NWR@fws.gov Include “Grays Lake Habitat Management Plan” in the subject line of the message.
• Fax: Attn: Grays Lake Habitat Management Plan (208) 237-8213.
• U.S. Mail: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Attn: Project Leader, SE Idaho National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 4425 Burley Drive Suite A, Chubbuck, ID 83302.
All comments received from individuals become part of the official public record. The Service’s practice is to make comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular business hours. Individual respondents can request that we withhold their home address from the record, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. If you wish to have your name and/or address withheld, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments.
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