Proposal elevates conservation
By Sophie Stuber, Planet Contributor
As the snow slowly melts out, locals and visitors alike are seeking out trails and open space. Year after year, Colorado’s public lands, rich in diversity and natural beauty, are growing even more popular. With the increased traffic, public lands managers have introduced a new plan to better center conservation practices in land management.
The Bureau of Land Management’s proposed Public Lands Rule would create a framework to protect and maintain wildlife habitats, water sources and landscapes. The new proposal maintains the BLM’s multiple use and sustained yield mission, but incorporates conservation into other land use practices. The framework focuses on responsible development while also protecting the public lands that people use for recreation.
The new rules should address some of the current challenges in protecting public lands.
“It brings into balance the agency’s management by elevating conservation beyond equal footing with other uses on the land. This is in the law, but the agency, for the last 40 years, has not really done a great job of prioritizing conservation,” Michael Carroll, BLM campaign director at The Wilderness Society, told the Planet.
“Ninety percent of public lands managed by the BLM are open to oil and gas leasing. Sixty percent of those lands are open cattle grazing and only 14 percent of them are protected. So bringing the agency's management in the balance is a reasonable request,” he said, referencing data analyzed by The Wilderness Society.
The new rule directs managers of BLM lands around the country to prioritize conservation. The BLM also lays out clearer directions for local land managers, which will make it easier to ensure that resource management plans reflect the desires of local communities and protect environmental resources.
Environmental and conservation groups have spent years working with land managers to better reflect locals’ needs. These rules give them a clear path forward.
“A lot of times, those local managers wanted to do the right thing in regards to conservation. They just didn't have clear direction from Washington saying you need to prioritize conservation,” Carroll said.
In the proposal, the BLM emphasized the importance of working with Tribal and local communities to manage conservation efforts on federal public lands and mitigate the effects of climate change.
The BLM framework will help conservation groups in the Telluride area.
“It’s been difficult to fight against some of the other values such as development and extraction. Hopefully this will represent a shift so that we can push forward with some of these other protections,” Mason Osgood, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance, told the Planet.
“It’s great that the BLM is going to bring conservation values up to the level of other values.”
Sheep Mountain Alliance has been a strong supporter of the BLM’s new public land rules, which will help conservation efforts in the region.
“Locally, Sheep Mountain Alliance has been working on protecting Gunnison Sage Grouse on BLM land,” Osgood said. “It’s really important that conservation is elevated in the West End where we see threatened species such as the Gunnison Sage Grounds and to protect lands such as Dry Creek Basin and Paradox Valley.”
Climate change threatens public lands, leading to drought, more frequent and intense wildfires, biodiversity losses and more invasive species. These natural threats are exacerbated by greater use of public lands.
“The rule will finally give the agency the ability to live up to its mission, especially as we continue to see impacts from climate change on the land and across the West,” Carroll said. “This will make sure that conservation is a priority and that they can continue to deliver on their multiple use and sustained yield mission into the future.
The BLM proposal is seen as a response to these current challenges and a strategy to maintain public lands so that future generations can also enjoy them.
“Our public lands are under growing pressure. It is our responsibility to use the best tools available to restore wildlife habitat, plan for smart development, and conserve the most important places for the benefit of the generations to come," Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a statement.
Through the land management planning process, local communities should be able to identify potential land and water restoration projects and offer input on potential development.
The framework still needs to be finalized and enacted. It is currently open to public comment. But the introduction is a big step, according to Carroll.
“This really could help those of us who live in the West and live here because we enjoy getting out on the public lands that are largely managed by the BLM. This rule can help ensure those lands into the future. It’s a really big deal for the agency to be prioritizing conservation,” he said.