News about issues affecting the wild lands managed (and sometimes mis-managed) by the Bureau of Land Management -- coming to you from The Wilderness Society’s BLM Action Center
In This Issue:
BLM to Lease Nearly 20,000 Acres of Roadless National Forest Lands in Colorado
Today, August 10, the Colorado State Office of the Bureau of Land Management plans to lease about 20,000 acres of inventoried roadless lands within three national forests in western Colorado for oil and gas drilling and additional public lands proposals for wilderness protection. Leasing these areas for natural gas development would pave the way for road construction and drilling activities that could damage the wildlife, watershed, hunting, fishing, and recreational values found there. In addition, leasing violates Forest Service assurances that there would be protections, compromises the results of the ongoing Colorado Roadless Areas Task Review Force process – which issued draft recommendations for public comment yesterday - and ignores the inadequacy of current Forest Service plans for petroleum development. A coalition of businesses, outfitters, and conservationists filed formal protests challenging the leases last month as did Gunnison County, Colorado; the sale will apparently go ahead anyway. (No on-the-ground action on the leases can occur until BLM rules on the protests, however, which usually takes a few months.) U.S. Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) this week called on the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to halt the sale in roadless areas.
For More Information
- Colorado Forest Legacy website (includes photos of areas): http://www.roadless.net/sections/background/08OGLeases.htm
- Colorado Wilderness Network website (troublesome wilderness proposal and Sewemup Mesa): http://www.ourcolorado.org/wilderness/cwp_areas/troublesome.htm and http://www.ourcolorado.org/wilderness/cwp_areas/sewemup.htm
- Earthjustice website (includes a copy of Senator Salazar’s August 8 letter): http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/colorado_roadless/explanation
- Rocky Mountain News story, August 10, 2006 (Forest Service admits leasing could lead to spiderweb of roads): http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4906820,00.html
- ABC Channel 7 News (Denver) story, August 10, 2006: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9658576/detail.html
- Aspen Times story, August 9, 2006: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20060809/NEWS/108090046
- Denver Post story, August 9, 2006: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_4152084
[Contacts: Sloan Shoemaker, Aspen Wilderness Workshop, 970/963-3977; Dan Morse, High Country Citizens’ Alliance, Crested Butte 970/349-7104; Mark Schofield, Western Colorado Congress, Grand Junction 970/256-7650]
Federal Investigation Called for to Examine Alleged Backdoor Deal to Ensure Increased Oil & Gas Access to Utah’s Wilderness-Quality Lands
On August 9, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) called for an internal Interior Department investigation into the implications of a newly obtained e-mail from a Utah lobbyist that suggests that agency officials may have made commitments behind closed doors to “fix” new land-use plans to assure more oil and gas development on wilderness-quality lands in the state.
The leaked e-mail from Bob Weidner, a lobbyist for several Utah counties, reports on a meeting held in July 2006 with Henri Bisson (now acting Utah Bureau of Land Management state director) and Interior Department official Jim Hughes regarding oil and gas and other issues in ongoing Utah Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Resource Management Plans (RMPs). In the note to his clients, Weidner writes, “We as counties owe it each other to strike while the iron is hot in finalizing these RMPs. As the governing documents over public lands for the next 20 years, working with the new State BLM Director and the State to ‘fix’ these RMPs is an opportunity which may never come again!”
The revelation of the e-mail comes on the heels of a federal district court decision that held that the BLM violated federal environmental laws when it sold oil and gas leases on 16 parcels of wilderness-quality lands in Utah in 2003. In the ruling, the court told BLM that, prior to leasing, it must update environmental analyses and examine the “wilderness qualities” of the land to be leased.
[Contact: Dave Slater, The Wilderness Society, 202/29-8441]
Sixty-Six Members of Congress Agree – Alaska’s Teshekpuk Lake Merits Protection
On August 4th, Reps. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) and John D. Dingell (D-MI) joined with 64 Members of Congress in sending a letter to new Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne asking him to postpone the proposed September 2006 lease sale in the ecologically sensitive Teshekpuk Lake (T-Lake) area of the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (Reserve). The letter calls for the re-establishment of protections for particularly sensitive lands within the Reserve, noting that the oil and gas industry already has access to 87 percent of the NPRA’s northeast planning area, and that providing them with access to the remainder jeopardizes caribou and waterfowl populations and native subsistence resources in the sensitive wetlands around T-Lake.
The T-Lake area sustains the largest goose molting concentration in the Arctic – with up to 60,000 geese congregating at once. This wetlands area is also crucial for subsistence hunting and fishing to residents of several North Slope Native villages, including Barrow and Nuiqsut. Oil and gas development would do serious damage to the populations of wildlife, which are important to Alaska Natives and their traditional ways of life.
[Contact: Eleanor Huffines, The Wilderness Society, 907/272-9453]
Sweetheart Deal Results in a Rise of Old-Growth Logging
The direction of Bush administration forest management is to eliminate the protections under the Northwest Forest Plan for old growth forests and the threatened and endangered species they harbor and to increase funding for logging. Under a sweetheart out-of-court lawsuit settlement in 2003 between the timber industry and the administration, forests managed by the Bureau of Land Management in southern Oregon may soon lose current environmental protections when their management plans are revised. The BLM previewed some of the alternatives it might consider in an upcoming Environmental Impact Statement, which all call for increased logging. Most notably, the BLM document includes a new interpretation of the law that prioritizes logging over all other values and uses of these publicly owned forests.
The President’s FY 2007 budget would have doubled logging in the Pacific Northwest and the administration has proposed weakening rules designed to protect salmon and clean water. Most recently the BLM and Forest Service reissued plans to eliminate protection for over 600 old growth dependent species by eliminating the Survey and Manage requirements of the Northwest Forest Plan.
The BLM is already offering controversial old growth logging projects instead of restoring fire prone tree plantation and focusing on community fire protection efforts. The Westside timber sale whose comment period ended this week would effectively clearcut over two square miles of old growth forests, leaving behind only 6-8 trees per acre.
[Contact: Jennifer Stephens, The Wilderness Society, 206/624-6430. ext 224]
California’s Carrizo Plain National Monument Resource Plan to get Greater Scrutiny - Conservationists Applaud BLM’s Decision
Following months of controversy, the BLM recently announced it will resume development of the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Carrizo Plain National Monument. RMP’s determine the level of protection afforded to a Monument guiding its management for up to 20 years. Yielding to pressure from conservation groups, the BLM announced it would prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Monument Plan, ensuring greater public input and environmental impact analysis. They also announced the appointment of a new Monument Advisory Committee. No meetings of the committee had been held for over a year after controversy erupted over the withdrawal of a draft Monument Plan which had broad support. Additionally, the BLM announced plans to hold new scoping hearings in order to determine and institutionalize proper protective and management practices for the Monument, based on the Advisory Committee’s recommendations and public input.
“Pursuing an EIS was the right and appropriate response by the BLM,” said Geary Hund of The Wilderness Society. “We applaud this action, and BLM assurances that its managing partners, the California Department of Fish and Game and The Nature Conservancy, the Monument Advisory Committee, and the public will have a significant voice in the development of the plan and the future management of the Monument.”
[Contact: Geary Hund, The Wilderness Society, 915/640-3398]
About the BLM Action Center
The BLM Action Center was established by The Wilderness Society in response to the relentless assault on America’s public lands. The Action Center operates out of Denver with a mission to protect America’s wild lands and open spaces by helping people participate in decisions that will shape the management of millions of acres of BLM lands throughout the Intermountain West. We also serve as a resource for journalists and a link to the vast expertise of The Wilderness Society’s national staff.
BLM Action Center Staff
- Communications Manager Melissa Kolwaite, a great resource, can direct you to our many experts and spokespeople. 303-650-5818, ext. 118
- Attorney Nada Culver, a great source for interpreting legal aspects of the BLM planning processes. 303-650-5818, ext. 117
- Coordinator Heath Nero is an expert in grassroots organization and governmental processes. 303-650-5818, ext. 116
Additional TWS Communications Contacts
>> Visit the BLM Action Center
