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Last week, Nevada became the first state in the nation to pass a resolution urging the conservation of 30 percent of the state’s lands and waters by the year 2030. This action is in line with the Biden administration's executive order on climate urging a national goal of protecting 30% of America's lands and waters by 2030. The resolution also calls for the establishment of the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and the permanent protection of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge from the expansion of military activities.
Conservation and climate advocates hope this bold step will inspire additional state legislatures to follow Nevada's lead and act swiftly to enact 30x30 resolutions of their own. Paul Selberg, Executive Director for Nevada Conservation League said, "Our state is home to an abundance of historical and cultural lands, including Avi Kwa Ame spirit mountain that allows Nevada to make an invaluable contribution to a national goal. We are proud to lead the way in this nationwide conservation effort and hope to see our neighboring states follow with bold collective action.”
The resolution urges collaboration at the federal, state, and local level to identify opportunities to reach the ambitious conservation goal that are unique to Nevada and will boost efforts already happening on the ground, providing a state-specific example for reaching the 30x30 goal. It also specifies the need for equity and inclusion throughout the process by emphasizing meaningful involvement from communities of color, Indigenous communities, and economically disadvantaged communities, in addition to other stakeholders such as private landowners, outdoor recreation enthusiasts, hunters, farmers, and conservationists.
BLM retirees urge Biden administration to return agency headquarters to D.C.
In a new position statement, the Public Lands Foundation (PLF), a retirees organization for the Bureau of Land Management, says the agency's headquarters move out of Washington, D.C. "must be corrected if the nation's largest federal land manager is to be at the table for key administration and departmental policy decisions that affect all public lands." The statement goes on to say "This action was taken without any consultation with BLM senior leadership and serves to separate the crucial on-the-ground work of BLM law enforcement rangers from the oversight of line managers," a point of view that is reinforced by former Wyoming BLM Director and PLF's vice president, Don Simpson: "Before they blew up the Washington office, and basically eliminated it, 97% of the employees were already in the West. Our policymakers and our budget people and our leadership are more appropriately located where there's a Capitol building out the window." The BLM completed the HQ move to Grand Junction, Colorado last summer, along with about 41 employees, while hundreds of other positions were relocated to state offices in the West as part of the reorganization effort initiated under former Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt. The current leadership at the Interior Department has said that no decisions have been made. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland promised during her confirmation hearings that she would visit the Grand Junction office before deciding its fate.
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I would be very surprised if we make it through June, without seeing a large wildfire somewhere in western Colorado."
