The Public Lands Foundation presents the West Box Elder Coordinated Resource Management Group with its 2013 Landscape Stewardship Award and this Citation.  The Foundation grants this recognition to honor private citizens and organizations that work to advance and sustain community-based stewardship on landscapes that include, in whole or in part, public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The West Box Elder Group is actively engaged in landscape management projects in northwestern Utah.  The lands included in their planning and project area are some of the most productive and critical sage grouse habitat lands in the Great Basin ecosystem.  The landscape includes a balanced mix of BLM lands, state lands and private property, with planning and project execution crossing boundaries to implement logical management projects.

The BLM landscape in this area also includes important habitat for Boreal toad, and refugia for Least Chubb.  A significant challenge for the BLM in this area is an extensive encroachment of juniper woodlands into once productive Sage Grouse habitat.

The West Box Elder Group is an ideal example of a community-based landscape stewardship group that is committed, engaged and active on the land across ownership boundaries.  Over the last two years, the Group has worked together as an effective response to the need for landscape level planning and project implementation in a critical region of the Great Basin.

In addition to completing a Coordinated Resource Management Plan in 2012, the group has several vigorous subgroups that are working on project-specific planning and implementation in the areas of Sage Grouse habitat improvement, Pinyon-juniper encroachment, noxious weed abatement actions and related topics.

Notably the West Box Elder Group members have contributed significant time and effort, keeping a landscape stewardship vision engaged and moving forward on projects and planning.   Significant improvements are being made in the landscape conservation and management of Sage Grouse and other sensitive species.  And, the Group provides a forum for the BLM to reach small communities in the county.

Thanks to the West Box Elder Coordinated Resource Management Group and its members, the future for BLM landscape stewardship in northwestern Utah is bright.

The Public Lands Foundation is pleased to present the West Box Elder Coordinated Resource Management Group with its 2013 Landscape Stewardship Award and this Citation for invaluable contributions to the stewardship of America’s public landscapes.

September 13, 2013