BLM Idaho Range Improvement Locations and Structures

BLM Idaho Range Improvement Poly is a geodatabase consolidating locations of rangeland structures on Bureau of Land Management land in Idaho. The dataset includes polygon features for structures like water troughs, fences, and reservoirs, with data migrated from historic paper systems and the automated Range Improvement Project System (RIPS). It is a work in progress, lacking data from the Coeur d'Alene and Cottonwood field offices and containing potentially incomplete attributes.

Use Cases

• Map and analyze the spatial distribution of water infrastructure like water troughs and pipelines for watershed management planning.
• Identify locations of wildlife guzzlers and artificial nest structures to support habitat enhancement studies.
• Cross-reference fence and gate locations with livestock allotment data for grazing management analysis.
• Assess the maintenance cycle and status of range improvement projects like culverts and reservoirs for asset management.

Strengths

• Geodatabase includes multiple feature types (point, line, polygon) for diverse spatial analysis.
• Data migration effort consolidates historic records from systems dating back to the early 1960s.
• Standardized according to Idaho IM 2009-044, providing a defined structure for data entry.

Limitations

• Dataset is incomplete, explicitly missing data from the Coeur d'Alene and Cottonwood field offices.
• Attributes may be incomplete or inaccurate, and the polygon feature class lacks the ALLOT field required by the standard.
• Contains a temporal gap as some historic or unauthorized projects may not be documented in the RIPS system.

Provenance

Source

Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Collection Method

Data migrated from paper-based Job Documentation Reports (JDRs) and the automated Range Improvement Project System (RIPS).

Time Range

Records originate from tracking systems established in the early 1960s, with ongoing updates.

Freshness

Last updated March 24, 2026, indicating recent maintenance.

Geography

BLM-managed lands in the state of Idaho, USA.