Colorado · Area of Critical Environmental Concern
Native Plant Community ACEC/ONA
BLM found a natural system here, and its plan calls for special management. BLM's records place no claim, lease or right of way inside the line today, and three grazing allotments cover part of it. It covers 3,788 acres and was designated November 5, 2004, in the 2004 Gunnison Gorge NCARMP. In the plan's name, NCARMP stands for National Conservation Area resource management plan.
One of the 1,120 places the Bureau of Land Management has designated an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. This page shows its line, what BLM found there and what sits inside it.
The line
Ground: USGS The National Map, topographic tiles. Boundaries: BLM's own, read Oct 20, 2026. The 3 grazing allotments below aren't marked.Grazing allotments
3 grazing allotments cover part of this line. Their permittees aren't named here yet.
- Middle Peach Valley9,641acres
- Smith Mountain5,504acres
- Upper Peach Valley3,962acres
The nearest areas
- Gunnison Sage-Grouse ACEC/IBAColorado · 22,189 acres · 7 rights of way, 8 grazing allotments covering part of it6miles
- Fairview ACEC/RNAColorado · 161 acres · 1 right of way, a grazing allotment covering part of it13miles
- Adobe Badlands ACECColorado · 6,370 acres · 3 grazing allotments covering part of it16miles
- Fairview South (BLM Expansion) ACECColorado · 608 acres · a grazing allotment covering part of it17miles
- Needle Rock ACECColorado · 82 acres · 2 rights of way18miles
More from BLM's Colorado office
Every area BLM's Colorado office holdsThe proposed rule
A proposed rule, RIN 1004-AF53, would change how BLM drafts every land use plan, and how it designates ACECs like Native Plant Community ACEC/ONA. The comment window hasn't opened: the proposed rule wasn't in the Federal Register at our last check. The Watch sends one email the day it prints.
The rule's abstract
The purpose of this rulemaking is to establish in regulations an updated process for the approval of the development, revision, amendment, and maintenance of land use plans, as provided for by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, for public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Additionally, this rulemaking will provide clarification of the process the BLM uses for designating Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.Unified Agenda entry for RIN 1004-AF53, Publication ID 2026, reginfo.gov (OMB OIRA), read Oct 18, 2026