Oregon · Area of Critical Environmental Concern
Soosap Meadows
BLM found a natural system and a natural process here, and its plan calls for special management. Nothing that BLM's records place sits inside the line today. It covers 343 acres and was designated August 5, 2016, in the Northwestern and Coastal Oregon RMP. 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.
Plan in motion
Northwestern and Coastal Oregon and Southwestern Oregon RMP revision names this area among the ACECs it covers. BLM's notice of February 19, 2026 says:
The BLM will reevaluate these designated ACECs for consideration in the Draft RMP/EIS.BLM, Notice of Intent To Revise Resource Management Plans for Northwestern and Coastal Oregon and Southwestern Oregon, 91 FR 8017, Feb. 19, 2026, FR Doc. 2026-03290, read Oct 18, 2026
Notice of intent February 19, 2026. Scoping comments closed March 23, 2026. We found no later notice for it in the Federal Register when we read it on October 18, 2026. The plan on BLM's ePlanning, project DOI-BLM-ORWA-0000-2026-0001-RMP-EIS.
The line
Ground: USGS The National Map, topographic tiles. Boundaries: BLM's own, read Oct 20, 2026.Inside the line
Nothing sits inside this line that BLM's records place: no mining claim, lease, right of way or grazing allotment.
The nearest areas
- Wilhoit SpringsOregon/Washington · 136 acres · 2 rights of way16miles
- Sandy RiverOregon/Washington · 11,447 acres · 48 rights of way23miles
- McCully MountainOregon/Washington · 102 acres · nothing placed inside30miles
- Silt CreekOregon/Washington · 119 acres · nothing placed inside31miles
- Crabtree ComplexOregon/Washington · 1,254 acres · 2 rights of way34miles
More from BLM's Oregon/Washington office
Every area BLM's Oregon/Washington 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 Soosap Meadows. 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