Sage-Grouse and Mule Deer Habitat Conservation and Restoration Act of 2015
This bill provides a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for a vegetation management project by the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service involving removal or treatment of any Pinyon or Juniper tree to conserve or restore the habitat of the greater sage-grouse or mule deer.
Under NEPA a categorical exclusion is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations. Therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.