Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** BLM goes big on conservation in Colorado
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Friday, August 4, 2023
The Gunnison sage-grouse. Larry Lamsa, Wikimedia Commons ([link removed](47460635881).jpg) .
The Bureau of Land Management is proposing new conservation designations on more than 100,000 acres of public land in Colorado, while preventing new oil and gas leases on more than 1.6 million acres. The proposed resource management plans ([link removed]) (RMPs) come from the agency's Grand Junction and Colorado River Valley field offices, stretching across seven counties.
E&E News reports ([link removed]) that the draft RMPs would avoid future oil and gas leasing on lands with "no-known, low, or medium" potential for oil production, along with lands that have high values for wildlife, conservation or wilderness. In practice, that would mean oil and gas leasing is still allowed on roughly 20 percent of the federal land in both field offices.
The RMPs ([link removed]) would also establish nine areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs), a conservation designation that Congress ordered BLM to prioritize when it passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. One of the new ACECs would cover nearly 25,000 acres in the Colorado River Valley Field Office to protect the greater sage-grouse. Another ACEC in the Grand Junction Field Office identifies 27,200 acres to protect the Gunnison sage-grouse that is only found in Colorado and Utah.
The BLM will hold a 90-day public comment period on the proposed RMPs and a 60-day comment period on the proposed ACECs. The agency also plans to hold two public meetings on the plans, with details to follow in the coming weeks.
** Quick hits
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World-class trail system breaks ground in Colorado's San Juan Mountains
The Gazette ([link removed])
Years of deferred maintenance in the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest addressed by Great American Outdoors Act
Helena Independent-Record ([link removed])
Phoenix's extreme heat is too much for its famed saguaros
Associated Press ([link removed])
Opinion: We need more prescribed burns to mitigate extreme fire seasons
Idaho Capital Sun ([link removed])
NPS Director Chuck Sams visits the Tetons
Jackson Hole News & Guide ([link removed])
Interior wants advice on first-of-its-kind nature study
E&E News ([link removed])
Opinion: Let's not pinch our pronghorn
WyoFile ([link removed])
Fishing, hunting groups say members can build support for new national monuments
Boise State Public Radio ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” There's a lot of trails that we had out there that were getting neglected, that we just could not get to because we did not have that manpower. Now, with the [Montana Conservation Corps] crews coming in, there are trails that have been opened up that probably have not been cut for the last 15 years.”
—Collin Ahlmeier, Montana Conservation Corps crew leader, Helena Independent-Record ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@nationalparkservice ([link removed])
Are you ready for #GreatAmericanOutdoorsDay ([link removed]) ? (Actually, every day is an outdoor day for us! Unless it’s super hot. Or raining. Oh, we found a cool park museum. Are we really into the indoors? Maybe.) Well, you should get outdoors. No pressure. (Whispers “outdoors!”) On Friday, August 4th, in honor of the third anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act, park entrance fees will be waived.
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