(a) The BLM shall develop national land health standards that facilitate progress toward achieving the following fundamentals of land health across all ecosystems on lands managed by the BLM:

(1) Watersheds are in, or are making significant progress toward, properly functioning physical condition, including their upland, riparian-wetland, and aquatic components; soil and plant conditions support infiltration, soil moisture storage, and the release of water that are in balance with climate and landform and maintain or improve water quality, water quantity, and timing and duration of flow.

(2) Ecological processes, including the hydrologic cycle, nutrient cycle, and energy flow, are maintained, or there is significant progress toward their attainment, in order to support healthy biotic populations and communities.

(3) Water quality complies with State water quality standards and achieves, or is making significant progress toward achieving, BLM management objectives established in the land use plan, such as meeting wildlife needs.

(4) Habitats are, or are making significant progress toward being, restored or maintained for Federal threatened and endangered species, Federal proposed or candidate threatened and endangered species, and other special status species.

(b) Land health fundamentals will be advanced through national land health standards that, at a minimum, address the following resources, processes, and values:

(1) Upland hydrologic function;

(2) Riparian, wetland, and aquatic hydrologic function;

(3) Upland ecological processes and biotic communities, including connectivity, and intactness of native plant and animal habitats;

(4) Riparian, wetland, and aquatic ecological processes and biotic communities including condition, connectivity, and intactness of native plant and animal habitats;

(5) Water quality; and

(6) Habitat condition connectivity and intactness for Federal threatened and endangered species, Federal proposed or candidate threatened and endangered species, and other special status species.

(c) To facilitate land health evaluations, the national land health standards will include indicators that are broadly applicable across the major ecosystem or habitat types (e.g., forest, rangeland, cold water fisheries) the BLM manages, and will include indicators derived from standardized datasets.

(d) Authorized officers must manage all program areas in accordance with the fundamentals of land health and standards, as provided in this subpart. Authorized officers must adopt the national standards and indicators, and may, when necessary, incorporate geographically distinct land health standards and indicators to evaluate rare or unique habitat or ecosystem types (e.g., permafrost) if such habitats or ecosystems cannot be evaluated using the national land health standards and indicators.

(e) Rangeland health standards developed under 43 CFR subpart 4180 will be reviewed and amended or supplemented as necessary to incorporate the national standards and indicators within 3 years of the effective date of these regulations. Subsequently, authorized officers shall review all land health standards for sufficiency at least every 10 years.

(f) Amended land health standards must be approved by the appropriate BLM State Director prior to implementation.

(a) To facilitate ecosystem resilience, authorized officers should use watershed condition assessments (see § 6103.2), and land health evaluations and causal factor determinations to support decision-making. Such action promotes efficiency, supports environmental analysis, and streamlines decision-making.

(b) To facilitate ecosystem resilience, authorized officers must manage all program areas to progress toward achieving land health standards.

(1) Authorized officers must apply approved land health standards, as revised from rangeland health standards previously established under subpart 4180 of this chapter (fundamentals of rangeland health), across all ecosystems managed by the BLM.

(2) Programs that authorize and manage uses or implement management actions on public land will develop management guidelines, which are best management practices designed to facilitate progress toward achievement and maintenance of land health standards.

(i) Authorized officers may develop or adopt additional management guidelines to address local ecosystems and management practices.

(ii) Programs and authorized officers will review management guidelines for sufficiency and make necessary revisions at least every 10 years in conjunction with the review of land health standards described in this subpart.

(c) Land use plans must identify the allocations and actions anticipated to achieve desired land health outcomes, including actions to maintain or restore land health in accordance with the land health standards. These actions include, but are not limited to, prioritizing development in degraded areas as well as prioritizing and implementing restoration actions (see § 6102.3).

(d) Land use plans shall identify statutory, regulatory, and other requirements that may prevent achievement of land health standards.

(1) Best management practices and mitigation measures to minimize effects to land health resulting from these requirements should be identified and required where practicable.

(2) Environmental effects analysis, consistent with NEPA requirements, for proposed management actions must consider effects to relevant land health standards.

(a) Authorized officers shall rely on watershed condition assessments when possible to complete land health evaluations for BLM-managed lands on a periodic basis, at least every 10 years (§ 6103.2).

(b) Authorized officers must determine the priority landscape and appropriate scale for completing land health evaluations based on resource concerns and, as necessary, to support decision-making processes.

(c) Authorized officers must consider available watershed condition assessments and existing land health assessments, evaluations, and determinations in the course of decision-making processes for all program areas.

(d) Land health evaluations interpret watershed condition assessments, including locally relevant high-quality information to draw conclusions about whether land health standards are achieved on public lands. In the course of conducting land health evaluations, authorized officers should:

(1) Consider multiple lines of evidence to evaluate achievement of each standard;

(2) Identify trends toward or away from desired conditions through analysis of high-quality information available over relevant time periods and spatial scales;

(3) Document the rationale and findings as to whether each land health standard is achieved or significant progress is being made towards its achievement; and

(4) Develop an interdisciplinary monitoring plan with quantitative objectives that can be measured to demonstrate significant progress when a land health evaluation report identifies that any standard is not achieved but significant progress is being made towards achievement.

(e) When conducting a land health evaluation, if the authorized officer finds that resource conditions are achieving or making significant progress toward achieving land health standards, no additional land health analysis is needed to authorize a use or permit activities.

(f) When conducting a land health evaluation, if the authorized officer finds that resource conditions are not achieving or making significant progress toward achieving land health standards, a documented causal factor determination must be prepared as soon as practicable but no later than 1 year after completion of the land health evaluation identifying the nonachievement. Causal factor determinations use available data to identify significant causal factors and describe contributing causal factors or conditions leading to non-achievement of standards.

(1) If the authorized officer determines sufficient information exists to identify and address the significant causal factors preventing resources from achieving or making significant progress towards achieving land health standards, no further land health analysis is required to address such factors.

(2) If the authorized officer determines insufficient information exists to identify and address the significant causal factors preventing resources from achieving or making significant progress to achieving land health standards, additional information, assessment and evaluation may be needed at finer scale.

(3) The authorized officer must take appropriate actions to facilitate achievement or significant progress toward achievement of land health standards as soon as practicable, unless otherwise specified in the land use plan, or when significant causal factors are outside of BLM control (e.g., lack of streamflow due to dewatering on connected lands not administered by the BLM).

(4) To the extent existing grazing management practices or levels of grazing use on public lands are identified as significant causal factors preventing resources from achieving or making significant progress towards achieving land health standards, authorized officers must proceed under § 4180.2(c) of this chapter. by taking appropriate action as soon as practicable but no later than the start of the next grazing year.

(5) Taking appropriate action means implementing actions that will result in significant progress toward achieving land health standards. Appropriate action must be consistent with applicable law, regulation, and the governing land use plan and its management objectives, such as where an area is managed for recreation or is degraded land prioritized for development. Appropriate actions may include, but are not limited to:

(i) Establishment or modification of terms and conditions for permits, leases, and other use authorizations;

(ii) Development and implementation of activity plans;

(iii) Implementation of adaptive management actions; and

(iv) Control of unauthorized use.

(g) Upon determining that significant causal factors other than current management practices are preventing achievement of land health standards, but are not outside of BLM control (e.g., presence of invasive species), the authorized officer shall identify and prioritize appropriate actions that may result in significant progress toward achievement of land health standards (see § 6102.5).

(h) Subject to other applicable law, authorized officers may implement restoration plans, modify authorized uses, or implement other management actions to increase expediency and effectiveness of progress towards achieving land health standards, to protect areas achieving land health standards, or to meet other objectives.

(i) If current authorized uses are determined to be significant causal factors and the authorized officer determines appropriate action is needed, then appropriate action must be consistent with the governing land use plan. Changes to some types of authorized uses may first warrant an amendment to the land use plan to allow the authorized officer to adjust those uses sufficient to make progress toward meeting land health standards. However, whether to undertake a planning process is at the discretion of the authorized officer.

(j) Authorized officers will report annually on land health evaluation, and determination accomplishments; results; and actions taken to address areas not achieving or making progress toward achieving standards.

(k) The BLM will maintain and annually update a publicly available record of land health evaluation and determination results and management actions taken to facilitate progress toward achieving land health standards.

(a) Watershed condition assessments must be completed at least once every 10 years and used to inform land use planning, protect intact landscapes (§ 6102.2), manage for ecosystem resilience (§ 6102.5), inform restoration actions (§ 6102.3), and inform land health evaluations and determinations (§ 6103.1.1). Watershed condition assessments assess and synthesize information on the condition of soil, water, habitats, and ecological processes within watersheds relative to the BLM's land health fundamentals and the national land health standards. When conducting watershed condition assessments, the BLM must:

(1) Compile and analyze multiple sources of high-quality information to understand conditions and trends relevant to each land health standard, including remote sensing products, field-based data, and other data gathered through inventory, assessment, and monitoring activities; and

(2) Incorporate consistent analytical approaches, quantitative indicators, and benchmarks where practicable.

(b) The BLM will maintain a publicly available inventory of infrastructure and natural resources on public lands. This inventory must include both critical landscape components (e.g., roads, land types, streams, habitats) and core indicators that address land health fundamentals.

(c) Authorized officers will use high-quality inventory, assessment, and monitoring information, including standardized quantitative monitoring data, remote sensing maps, and geospatial analyses, to inform decision-making across program areas, including, but not limited to:

(1) Authorization of permitted uses;

(2) Land use planning;

(3) Watershed condition assessments and land health evaluations;

(4) Restoration planning, including prioritization;

(5) Assessments of restoration effectiveness;

(6) Consideration of areas of critical environmental concern;

(7) Evaluation and protection of intact landscapes;

(8) Restoration and mitigation leasing; and

(9) Other decision-making processes.

(d) Authorized officers must inventory, assess, and monitor activities as necessary to inform the decision-making processes identified in paragraph (b) of this section and, in so doing, must employ the following:

(1) Interdisciplinary monitoring plans for providing data relevant to decision makers;

(2) Standardized field protocols and indicators to allow data comparisons through space and time in support of multiple management decisions;

(3) Appropriate sample designs to minimize bias and maximize applicability of collected data;

(4) Integration with remote sensing products to optimize sampling and calibrate continuous map products; and

(5) Data management and stewardship to ensure data quality, accessibility, and use.