Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Proposed conservation rule receives broad support
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Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Montana’s Upper Missouri River Breaks Country | Bureau of Land Management via Flickr ([link removed])

The Bureau of Land Management's proposed Public Lands Rule ([link removed]) , introduced in March, would seek to put conservation on equal footing with mining, drilling, livestock grazing, and other uses on public lands, in part by offering conservation leases—types of leases where an external entity could propose to enter into an agreement with the BLM to help achieve restoration or mitigation outcomes on public lands.

In a recent episode of the Center for Western Priorities' podcast, The Landscape ([link removed]) , Kate and Aaron speak with James Kenna, a 40-year Interior Department veteran, to discuss the agency's Public Lands Rule and its long-term benefits to public lands. Kenna wore a number of hats over his decades of public service, including a stint as BLM's California state director, giving him a front row seat to land management decisions that would shape America’s energy future.

"This is really a framework for doing what has been in the business line of the Bureau of Land Management for a long time," says ([link removed]) Kenna. "Restoration work and conservation work is critical to sustaining public lands over the long haul. It's what we hand off to the next generation when we're done."

Congressional leaders are also on board ([link removed]) with the Public Lands Rule.
A bicameral coalition of 45 members of Congress is urging ([link removed]) Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to implement the rule, emphasizing that maintaining BLM lands for multiple uses is vital in the face of a warming climate, and to ensure the health of public lands for future generations.



** BLM Restoration Landscapes: Montana Mountains
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In celebration of the Bureau of Land Management’s $161 million investment in Western landscape restoration projects ([link removed]) , Look West is highlighting a different " ([link removed]) Restoration Landscape ([link removed]) " ([link removed]) each day for 21 days. Today’s landscape is the Montana Mountains in northwest Nevada. An investment of $6 million will help restore riparian areas—bands of green in the desert—to support the area's wildlife, which includes antelope, mule deer, greater sage-grouse, and pygmy rabbit.
Quick hits


** Opinion: Let's not let our public land get caught up in a culture war
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Daily Sentinel ([link removed])


** Lawmakers ask Haaland to 'modernize' BLM through conservation rule
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E&E News ([link removed])


** The hidden cost of gasoline
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Grist ([link removed])


** These trails aren’t for hikers, they’re for kayakers
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National Geographic ([link removed])


** 1908 race riot site eligible to become new national park
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Report: Ecosystem benefits of the Thompson Divide mineral withdrawal
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Center for American Progress ([link removed])


** Climate change trial pits youth against Montana
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Reuters ([link removed])


** What to know about proposed BLM plan to strengthen public lands
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A ([link removed]) rizona Republic ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” Conservation is a participative sport. If you look at where it's been done well, anywhere in the country, you will find partnerships.”
—James Kenna, former California state director at Bureau of Land Management, The Landscape Podcast ([link removed])
Picture this


** @CurecantiNPS ([link removed])
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"Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water. Limitless and immortal, the waters are the beginning and end of all things on earth."
-Christopher Morley-

Photo description: View of the Iola Basin.

NPS photo by Troy Hunt

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