Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** BLM finds balance in southwest Wyoming
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Friday, August 23, 2024
Sand Dunes Open Play Area in the Rock Springs Field Office, BLM Wyoming ([link removed])
The Bureau of Land Management released its proposed final management plan for southwest Wyoming ([link removed]) on Thursday. BLM's draft plan released last year led to intense opposition and misinformation ([link removed]) , and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon convened a task force to provide feedback to the agency.
The final plan ([link removed]) released Thursday incorporates that feedback, along with 30,000 public comments submitted to BLM. The management plan enhances public access for hunting, fishing, and recreation, while allowing oil and gas drilling, energy transmission lines, and trona mining on more than 70 percent of the acres covered by the management plan. It also designates nearly one million acres as areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs), as required by federal law. The plan does not close any roads or trails to off-highway vehicles.
Areas where BLM specifically honored the wishes of local citizens and stakeholders include Greater Little Mountain ([link removed]) , where BLM is proposing to limit oil and gas development and other industrial activities to provide access for hunting and fishing and conserve key fish and wildlife values.
Despite this, Governor Gordon immediately complained ([link removed]) that the plan “does not meet Wyoming’s expectations of durable, multiple use of public lands,” and pledged to file a protest before the management plan is finalized.
Wyoming conservation groups, by contrast, were cautiously supportive. The Wyoming Outdoor Council and The Wilderness Society praised the plan overall, but raised concerns about protection for big game species and migration corridors.
Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby told WyoFile ([link removed]) that “this is what responsible planning looks like. In any situation where the BLM or any management agency is trying to balance so many different uses and resources and values, no one’s going to get everything that they want.”
** Quick hits
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Opinion: At Bahsahwahbee, Tribes want presidential action
Nevada Current ([link removed])
BLM releases Rock Springs management plan, kicks off final protest and review period
WyoFile ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | SweetwaterNow ([link removed])
Wildfires close I-90 in Wyoming, burn structures at historic Idaho lodge
KTVB ([link removed]) | WyoFile ([link removed])
Wyoming turns down $35 million to clean up orphan wells
Cowboy State Daily ([link removed])
As Colorado's tourism economy booms, recreation leaders ask if current trends are sustainable
KSUT ([link removed])
BASE jumpers push to change rules at national parks despite risks
Washington Post ([link removed])
Colorado River moves from "suspect" to "positive" for zebra mussels
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
A rare and wild adventure on the Colorado River
BBC News ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” Tribal elders have died in this process of bringing our Bahsahwahbee campaign to the Administration. Our Tribal leaders and membership put everything they had into it. If our calls continue to go unanswered, what are we to make of this Administration that would abandon 3 Tribal nations who simply wanted a nationally significant place of serial massacres and religious gathering to be preserved and commemorated?”
—Amos Murphy, Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Nevada Current ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@usinterior ([link removed])
In the summer, @mountrainiernps ([link removed]) ’ meadows are filled with colorful displays of wildflowers, which bloom profusely during the short growing season.
Help us preserve and protect these precious subalpine meadows by staying on the trail during your visit. There are plenty of opportunities for the perfect mountain and wildflower photo from the trails. Your actions will keep Mount Rainier’s meadows healthy and scenic into the future.
Photo by A. Wotton / NPS
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