Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Is the third time the charm for the sage-grouse?
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Thursday, January 12, 2023
Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])

With time running out for the imperiled greater sage-grouse, the Bureau of Land Management is making a third attempt to finalize a plan that will save the iconic Western bird. E&E News reports ([link removed]) that BLM is targeting the summer of 2023 for the draft management plan, which will cover around 70 million acres of grouse habitat across ten Western states.

The Obama administration's 2015 plan was hailed as a compromise to prevent an endangered species listing of the sage-grouse, but key parts of the plan were weakened in 2019 under President Trump. Those revisions were blocked by the courts.

In the years since the Obama plan, sage-grouse populations have plummeted in several states, as the bird lost habitat to drought, wildfires, and invasive plant species like cheatgrass. Republicans in Congress added a rider to the omnibus spending package passed last month that prevents the Interior Department from using funds to write a rule that would add the sage-grouse to the Endangered Species List.

Vera Smith, senior federal policy lands analyst with Defenders of Wildlife, encouraged the Biden administration to follow the science as it writes the new sage-grouse plan.

“The science tells us that we need stronger conservation now if we are to curtail ongoing habitat loss and get to a place where the sagebrush sea is ecologically sustainable and can support stable populations of grouse and other sagebrush-dependent wildlife,” Smith said ([link removed]) .


** Burning Man vs. renewable energy
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The nonprofit organization that runs Burning Man is suing to stop a renewable energy project ([link removed]) in the Nevada desert. A proposed exploration plan would drill up to 13 exploratory geothermal wells on public land near Gerlach, Nevada—a gateway town to Burning Man, which is also held on public lands. The lawsuit to stop the geothermal project says allowing the exploratory wells would lay “the foundation for turning a unique, virtually pristine ecosystem of environmental, historical, and cultural significance into an industrial zone.”

Five years ago, Burning Man found itself in hot water after it left a 747 jumbo jet ([link removed]) on the pristine ecosystem mentioned in its lawsuit.
Quick hits


** BLM looks to expand solar, wind across the West
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Desert Sun ([link removed])


** Biden admin revists sage-grouse regs, teeing up fresh battles
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E&E News ([link removed])


** America's top museums and universities fail to return Native American human remains
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ProPublica ([link removed])


** Colorado may bolster liability protections for private landowners who let the public recreate on their land
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** Proposed Civilian Climate Corps gets boost from new alliance
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Mark Udall: Reintroduced wolves could be hunted or killed under draft Colorado plan
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Denver Post ([link removed])


** NPS proposes ban on baiting bears in Alaska
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** 1,000 bear-resistant trash cans in Jackson Hole aren't so bear-resistant
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Jackson Hole News & Guide ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” We never ceded or relinquished our dead. They were stolen.”
—Former Arizona State University Professor and Pawnee Nation member James Riding In, ProPublica ([link removed])
Picture this


** @nationalparkservice ([link removed])
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Boasting some of the darkest nights in Southern California, Joshua Tree National Park, an International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), offers many visitors the chance to admire the Milky Way for the first time in their lives. On a clear night and moonless, you should have no problem viewing the stars from anywhere in the park.

Have you enjoyed the night skies from a national park?

Image: Silhouette of a Joshua tree against a star-filled sky. NPS/ Brad Sutton

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