** Bears Ears, Grand Staircase management plans likely illegal, researchers say
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Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Bears Ears National Monument | B ([link removed]) ob Wick, BLM ([link removed])
Legal scholars say that the Trump Administration's management plans for the reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments likely violate federal law ([link removed]) . The management plans, which were released in early February ([link removed]) , formalize monument reductions by President Trump and open the areas removed from the monument to mining, drilling, and logging. The presidential order, which eliminated over 2 million acres from the two monuments, remains challenged in court ([link removed]) .
The new legal analysis ([link removed]) of the plans concludes that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) doesn't go far enough to protect the monument resources identified, as current law requires that the BLM prioritize resource protection over other uses. Additionally, researchers found that the "no action alternative" used by the BLM in development of the Bears Ears plan didn't include the appropriate baseline protections for National Monuments.
For both monuments, the BLM chose to recommend the least protective plan out of proposed alternatives.
Quick hits
** Tribe says Pentagon failed to consult on border wall construction
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NBC News ([link removed])
** Wyoming Governor signs wildlife migration order
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W ([link removed]) yoFile ([link removed]) | Public News Service ([link removed]) | Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** Proposed monument gets boost from public lands bill
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** Las Vegas Sun ([link removed])
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** Bears Ears, Grand Staircase management plans likely illegal, researchers say
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KUER ([link removed])
** Interior Secretary Bernhardt tailored a job for ex-political appointee, now missing in action
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National Parks Traveler ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
** Opinion: No one at the helm of America’s National Parks
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The Hill ([link removed])
** White House budget cuts into Forest Service research
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E&E News ([link removed])
** Opinion: Call on representatives to support the Land and Water Conservation Fund
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Reno Gazette Journal ([link removed]) | Bozeman Daily Chronicle ([link removed])
Quote of the day
They're disturbing sacred areas. It's disgraceful to see how much blasting is going on and how the remnants of our ancestors are being disturbed by that blasting... For them to say they have not disturbed anything is total ignorance on their part."
—Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr.,
On the border wall construction
NBC News ([link removed])
Picture this
** @forestservice ([link removed])
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Happy [Belated] #PresidentsDay ([link removed]) !
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