Montana · Area of Critical Environmental Concern
Long Medicine Wheel
BLM found a cultural value here, and its plan calls for special management. BLM's records place no claim, lease or right of way inside the line today, and a grazing allotment covers part of it. It covers 179 acres and was designated September 21, 2015, in the Miles City RMP (2015). In the plan's name, RMP stands for 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 grazing allotment below isn't marked.Grazing allotments
A grazing allotment covers part of this line. Its permittee isn't named here yet.
- ANTELOPE HILL AMP8,253acres
The nearest areas
- Sand ArroyoMontana/Dakotas · 12,314 acres · 1 right of way, 9 grazing allotments covering part of it20miles
- Bug CreekMontana/Dakotas · 3,839 acres · 2 grazing allotments covering part of it26miles
- Ash Creek DivideMontana/Dakotas · 8,283 acres · 6 grazing allotments covering part of it36miles
- Flat CreekMontana/Dakotas · 339 acres · a grazing allotment covering part of it41miles
- Mountain PloverMontana/Dakotas · 24,793 acres · at least 50 active mining claims, 8 grazing allotments covering part of it54miles
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 Long Medicine Wheel. 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