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


** After centuries of theft, the government is asking Tribes to help manage land
------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, February 24, 2023
The sign greeting visitors at Bears Ears National Monument in Utah bears the logos of the BLM, the Forest Service, and the insignias of each of the five tribal partners. Photo credit: BLM Utah, Flickr ([link removed])

Since President Joe Biden took office, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have signed off on nearly two dozen Tribal co-stewardship agreements ([link removed]) with another 60 agreements involving 45 Tribes in various stages of review, according to reporting by HuffPost ([link removed]) .

The Interior and Agriculture departments launched this effort in November 2021 with a joint secretarial order ([link removed]) directing relevant agencies to make sure their decisions on public lands fulfill trust obligations with Tribes (the Commerce department signed onto the order a year later in November 2022). The order ([link removed]) specifically requires that co-stewardship efforts be discussed in individual employee performance reviews for tens of thousands of federal employees to ensure its directives trickle down to the day-to-day activities of each agency. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have since produced their own co-stewardship guidance documents.

“The history of federal public lands cannot be separated from the history of Tribes,” said Monte Mills ([link removed]) , a law professor and director of the Native American Law Center at the Washington University School of Law. “At its core, this is about justice and restoring the rightful, in my view, place of Tribal voices and their connection to these landscapes. To have Tribal folks weighing in on decisions on how lands should be managed benefits landscapes and benefits all of us,” he said.

Importantly, there are distinctions ([link removed]) between co-management, where Tribes share legal authority with the federal government to make decisions affecting the land or the species on it, and co-stewardship, where they collaborate on activities like forest thinning. Bears Ears National Monument in Utah is likely the most prominent example of a Tribal co-stewardship agreement: The BLM, Forest Service, and five Tribes jointly oversee the federal lands within the monument's 1.36 million-acre boundaries.
Quick hits


** Future of the Salton Sea is tied to the imperiled Colorado River
------------------------------------------------------------

WBUR ([link removed])


** Colorado agency holds fifth and final meeting on wolf reintroduction plan
------------------------------------------------------------

Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** After centuries of theft, the government is asking Tribes to help manage land
------------------------------------------------------------

HuffPost ([link removed])


** Judge clears the way for Forest Service to kill feral cattle in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness
------------------------------------------------------------

Associated Press ([link removed]) | Reuters ([link removed])


** How a company plans to use geothermal heat to pull carbon out of the sky
------------------------------------------------------------

Washington Post ([link removed])


** Visitors watch as giant piece of Yosemite's El Capitan rock face crashes down
------------------------------------------------------------

SFGate ([link removed]) | Fox News ([link removed])


** U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposes protections for California spotted owl
------------------------------------------------------------

Associated Press ([link removed])


** Lawmakers urge EPA to tighten gas flaring restrictions to curb methane emissions
------------------------------------------------------------

CNBC ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” Our lawmakers have their own constitutional duty to steward the health of our natural resources. Montanans elected them because of their promises to defend, uphold, and protect our constitutional rights, including to a 'clean and healthful environment.' Anything to the contrary, and they should expect to be held accountable.”
—Marne Hayes, director of Business for Montana’s Outdoors, Helena Independent Record ([link removed])
Picture this


** @DOICareers ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
"Every day I work hard to contribute to conservation, to people as a whole, and to this world. That’s my number one motive, trying to save the place that we all call home!" — Jerome Ford, Assistant Director for the Migratory Bird Program
@USFWS ([link removed]) , #BlackHistoryMonth ([link removed]) #PeopleofInterior ([link removed])

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Medium ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
Copyright © 2023 Center for Western Priorities, All rights reserved.
You've signed up to receive Look West updates.

Center for Western Priorities
1999 Broadway
Suite 520
Denver, CO 80202
USA
** View this on the web ([link removed])

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])