Now is the Time for Bold Conservation Action by the Bureau of Land Management!
Owyhee Canyonlands, ID
Sean Bagshaw
As the nation’s largest land manager, we need the BLM’s bold leadership and action to address the climate and biodiversity crisis and ensure the healthy future of our economies, environment, and way-of-life. The BLM can safeguard wildlife corridors, restore damaged landscapes, and protect our remaining wildlands today - they just need the will to act!
There is broad support across the West and the nation for the BLM to embrace conservation and take bold action. To learn more about the conservation vision people share for the West and lands managed by the BLM, explore the links below:
Western Voter Support for Conservation
Winning the West 2022 Poll – The Center for Western Priorities latest poll shows conservation issues are extremely important to western voters.
Elected Official Support for BLM Action
40 Members of the House of Representatives call on Secretary Haaland and the BLM to Prioritize Conservation
California Natural Resources Agency calls on BLM to “use all of its authorities to advance a collaborative and inclusive approach to conservation…”
Western Senators push Sec. Haaland for more focus on BLM Conservation – Senator’s from California, Colorado and New Mexico call for use of more administrative conservation tools.
Oregon Senators call for more BLM Conservation in letter to DOI – Senator Wyden and Merkley note that “protecting lands managed by the BLM is the single biggest opportunity the administration has to make conservation progress.”
Seven-Senators Wilderness Study Area follow-up letter to Sec. Haaland – Senators reiterate their request that the Secretary of the Interior use existing authorities to establish wilderness study areas.
Seven-Senators Wilderness Study Area (WSA) Letter to Sec. Haaland – Senators call on the Secretary of Interior to push for more BLM conservation.
Sen. Padilla and Rep. Huffman Letter to BLM State Director California Senator and Representative call for more BLM administrative protections as part of planning processes.
Congresswoman Degette’s Scoping Letter - Dean of Colorado delegation pushes for more BLM protections in new planning process
Mountain Pact Local Elect Official Letter of Support – Over 120 present and past western local elected officials call for more protection of BLM managed lands.
Colorado local elected official letter to state director – Local elected officials want new BLM resource management plans to prioritize conservation.
Business Support for BLM Action
Outdoor Business Support letter – Outdoor industry companies want more conservation action by the BLM.
Colorado Outdoor Business Op-ed – Colorado’s outdoor economy is dependent on protected BLM Lands.
New Mexico Outdoor Business Op-ed – Protected BLM lands are critical to New Mexico’s outdoor industry.
Communities Support for BLM Conservation
Center for American Progress Report – Executive Action vs. the Nature Crisis: Top 8 Opportunities President Biden Should Pursue To Meet His America the Beautiful Commitment – “BLM lands represent the single biggest opportunity for President Biden and Secretary Haaland to make conservation progress and balance a system that has overwhelmingly favored the short-term interests of oil, gas, and mining companies.”
Center for Western Priorities - The top 8 actions Biden can take to protect 30×30 – Podcast highlights need for BLM action as top priority for Biden Administration.
Navajo Nation Utah Commission Resolution - The Navajo Utah Commission calls for more WSA protections to ensure Biden administration reaches 30x30 goals.
Land, Latinos, and FLPMA: We Demand Protections for Wilderness Study Areas – There is strong support across the Latinx community for protecting BLM lands.
Conservation Community Support for BLM Action
Conservation Community Supports BLM’s effort to protect wildlife connectivity:
- AZ 30x30 Coalition Statement
- Sierra Club Statement
- The Wilderness Society’s Statement
- Audubon’s Statement
- NWF’s Statement
- Mountain Pact Statement
- TRCPs Statement
- Wildlife Network
- Western Watersheds
Arizona Conservation Organization Letter to State Director - BLM has the authority to protect Arizona’s most valuable wildlands.
Grand Canyon Chapter of Sierra Club Letter to State Director - Protected BLM lands are critical to Arizona and these areas must be prioritized.
California/Nevada Sierra Club Committee Letter to State Director - California has made significant commitments to conservation, to succeed it needs the BLM to “go big!”
Montana Chapter of Sierra Club Letter to State Director - BLM in Montana should prioritize recommended wilderness and new Wilderness Study Areas.
Toiyabe Chapter of Sierra Club Letter to State Director (Link here/Doc attached) - Nevada BLM needs to designate more Wilderness Study Areas to ensure the state's cultural resources and native species.
National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers Report: Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and Indian Tribes — BLM needs to strengthen ACECs to protect places of cultural importance to tribes.
Joint Idaho Statesman Advertisement - Paid for by Conservation Voters for Idaho, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Idaho Conservation League, The Wilderness Society, Birds of Prey NCA Partnership and Conservation Lands Foundation
Media Coverage on the Need for Bold BLM Action
Colorado's House Democrats call on the use of executive action to protect more BLM land
The Albuquerque Journal calls for “true BLM leadership” in recent editorial
Jim Baca - former Director of the BLM calls on BLM to “lead from the front and prioritize meaningful conservation”
Durango Herald says BLM needs direction, bold action on conservation.
The New York Times calls BLM land conservation the most “useful” thing the administration can do to meet its ambitious goals for nation.
Durango Herald Op-Ed calls for more BLM support of wildlife corridors and connectivity.
Salt Lake Tribune calls for state to be a “public lands” state.
Grand Junction Sentinel – BLM policy good for users, wildlife – Sentinel praises wildlife connectivity instruction memorandum as good step in right direction for BLM.
Grand Junction Sentinel – Managing Lands for the Future – Sentinel highlights needs for more conservation management to balance BLM’s mission.
WyoFile – Red Desert cultural sites reflect broader tribal frustrations - Tribal communities in Wyoming want BLM to protect cultural sites as ACECs.
Washington Post - Report details how Biden can protect 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 without Congress – BLM conservation is administration’s biggest opportunity.
Greenwire - BLM advances strategy to protect wildlife migration corridors - The Bureau of Land Management directed state offices to identify corridors and conserve or restore them.
Public News Service - Bureau of Land Management Prioritizes Wildlife Connectivity – New direction to have positive impacts on Nevada Wildlife.
KJZZ - Bureau of Land Management announces new agency policy on wildlife corridors - new policy could help the Arizona office as it develops new policies for that land.
Huffington Post - Biden Could Be Missing Out On His Biggest Conservation Opportunity - Conservationists worry that the Bureau of Land Management is moving too slowly on a key tool for success.
Greenwire: Senate Dems: More Wilderness Study Areas – Senators want more bold conservation from the BLM.
Grand Junction Sentinel - Public Lands Conservation Lagging in West - Conservationists call for quicker conservation action.
KJZZ - BLM Could Play a Major Role in America the Beautiful. THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW!
Background
As the largest land manager in the nation, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has a critical role to play in implementing the America the Beautiful initiative if the administration is going to reach its ambitious conservation goals of protecting more of our nation’s lands and waters. The BLM manages 245 million acres of land largely spread across 12 western states. Protecting these lands in their natural, undeveloped condition is crucial to combating the effects of climate change. Across the West, these lands provide real, quantifiable carbon sequestration and climate adaptation benefits and also serve to conserve scarce water resources. They serve as critical climate refugia for wildlife species and play a vital role in ensuring habitat connectivity across the West. They are in short the heart of the America the Beautiful initiative and their protection should be prioritized by the administration.
The BLM has existing tools and authorities that it must begin using more widely across the West to accelerate the scope and pace of conservation. Guided by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), these policies and regulations enable the agency to better restore, conserve, and protect national public lands. Two of the most important tools managed by the BLM under FLPMA are Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), and it’s time for the BLM to boldly use these tools to help address the climate and biodiversity crisis.
WSAs are BLM’s most durable and important administrative designation. The designation ensures wilderness character is maintained on identified public lands, protecting the agency’s wildest places, irreplaceable cultural resources, native species, and world class recreation until Congress has a chance to act and decide whether they deserve permanent protection. There are more than 29 million acres of BLM-identified LWCs in the lower 48 states that are eligible for WSA designation and millions more acres of community-identified LWCs that should be considered for designation. To truly address the climate and biodiversity crisis and protect our water resources, the BLM must embrace and use this tool to protect more public lands.
ACECs are perhaps the most versatile tool the BLM has at its disposal. FLPMA directs the BLM to give priority to the designation and protection of ACECs. These are places where special management attention is required to protect and prevent irreparable damage to important historic, cultural, or scenic values, fish and wildlife resources, or other natural systems or processes. For decades, this designation has gone largely unrealized, with inconsistent identification, designation, and management. To this day there are no national standards or regulations that define what protection means for individual ACECs leading to poor management that in many instances renders the designation meaningless. BLM should address this problem immediately and implement clear regulations that ensure ACECs are truly protected. There are currently over 1,000 ACECs comprising over 20 million acres in the United States. FLPMA requires the BLM to prioritize the protection and designation of ACECs as part of their planning processes and if the administration is going to reach its conservation goals, they have to direct the BLM to meet this requirement.
In addition to WSAs and ACECs, BLM’s toolbox is full of other useful management tools that should also be more frequently used to meet the conservation goals set by the Biden administration. Other key conservation tools the administration could use through the administrative process include:
● Backcountry Conservation Areas (BCAs) can be managed to conserve intact wildlife habitats and support high quality wildlife-dependent recreation.
● Wildlife Migration Corridors can be established through coordination with states to enhance and improve the quality of big-game winter range and migration corridor habitat on Federal lands under the management jurisdiction in a way that recognizes state authority to conserve and manage big-game species and respects private property rights.
● Wild and Scenic Rivers can be identified by the BLM as eligible and suitable for further protection through the Resource Management Planning (RMP) process.
The BLM must aggressively use these tools if they are going to help the Biden Administration and Western states achieve their conservation goals.
