South Dakota · Area of Critical Environmental Concern
Fossil Cycad
BLM found a natural system here, and its plan calls for special management. BLM's records place 1 right of way inside the line today, and a grazing allotment covers part of it. It covers 318 acres in South Dakota, managed by BLM's Montana/Dakotas office, and was designated March 10, 1999, in the South Dakota RMP (2015). In the plan's name, RMP stands for resource management plan. The plan's name carries a later year than that date: BLM's map gives the date it records for the area, and a plan approved later can carry forward an area designated earlier.
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
The rights of way
1 right of way sits inside the line. BLM files 1 under non-energy facilities.
- SD DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION1right of way
Grazing allotments
A grazing allotment covers part of this line. Its permittee isn't named here yet.
- FOSSIL CYCAD763acres
The nearest areas
- Whoopup Canyon ACECWyoming · 1,414 acres · a grazing allotment covering part of it30miles
- Fort Meade Recreation AreaMontana/Dakotas · 6,386 acres · 14 rights of way, 2 grazing allotments covering part of it71miles
- Pumpkin Buttes ACECWyoming · 1,743 acres · at least 55 mining claims BLM lists as Filed, 3 oil and gas leases, 16 rights of way, 3 grazing allotments covering part of it110miles
- Finger ButtesMontana/Dakotas · 1,521 acres · 4 grazing allotments covering part of it137miles
- Jackson Canyon ACECWyoming · 14,348 acres · 1 right of way, 3 grazing allotments covering part of it144miles
More from BLM's Montana/Dakotas office
Every area BLM's Montana/Dakotas 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 Fossil Cycad. 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