Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** How to protect 30x30—no Congress required
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Monday, November 28, 2022
President Biden presents the pen he used to designate Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument to 10th Mountain Division veteran Francis Lovett, October 12, 2022. Photo: Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities
With a divided Congress on the way in 2023, the chances of passing legislation to protect 30 percent of America's lands and waters appear to be dwindling. A new report from the Center for American Progress ([link removed]) lays out a path for President Joe Biden to reach the 30x30 goal through executive action.
The eight point plan begins with designating new national monuments and marine sanctuaries, then moves on to rulemaking and planning to protect high-value Bureau of Land Management lands, conserving old forests, and expanding national wildlife refuges.
Drew McConville, the lead author of the report and a former senior adviser at the White House Council on Environmental Quality during the Obama administration, told the Washington Post ([link removed]) that while President Biden has taken important steps, “more urgency is needed to meet this part of his climate commitment.”
McConville encouraged the president to listen to local communities that are asking for national monument designations, including Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada and Castner Range in Texas. “The good news—and a major conclusion here—is that he and his Cabinet already have the tools to make it happen,” he said.
Quick hits
** How a navigation app has supercharged the question of who can reach public land in the West
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New York Times ([link removed])
** Bison spread as Native American tribes reclaim stewardship
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Associated Press ([link removed]')
** Unexploded ordnance saved Castner Range from development—will President Biden open it to the public?
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Texas Monthly ([link removed])
** Just two crops use up two thirds of Utah's water—here's why
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])
** Why methane emissions are higher than publicly reported, and tracking them is so hard
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PBS ([link removed])
** Arizona governor continues to build makeshift border barrier on national forest land without permits
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Arizona Daily Star ([link removed])
** Meet the youngest president-elect in Navajo Nation history
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Deseret News ([link removed])
** Opinion: Utah's lawsuit is an attack on our public lands, parks, and historic sites
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Denver Post ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” Political cartoonist Rob Pudim tells of hiking a trail he’d worked on for several summers and feeling an onrush of possessiveness: ‘I own this land,’ he recalls thinking. In a way, he’s right. We do own this land, though it is managed—even if we rarely see a ranger—by federal agencies.”
—David Marston, Writers on the Range ([link removed])
Picture this
** @mypubliclands ([link removed])
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We are so #thankful ([link removed]) for our employees, volunteers and partners who help us manage 245 million acres of #YourPublicLands ([link removed]) across our beautiful nation! May your holiday be filled with family, friends, nature and happiness. From all of us at the Bureau of Land Management, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving! 🦃
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