The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released proposed plans for how to manage millions of acres in Southwest Wyoming. The public can now submit comments on the draft through Nov. 16.
The plan is more than a thousand pages long and is multiple decades in the making. It’s released in two volumes culminating in four potential future management strategies for the Red Desert and areas around it. The BLM’s “preferred alternative” emphasizes preserving biodiversity.
Conservation groups have largely cheered this management approach. Matt Skroch, a project director with Pew Charitable Trusts, said this part of Wyoming has national significance for wildlife, including pronghorn and sage grouse.
“This plan really is about the future rather than the past. It is about charting a new course. And I will say a relatively bold course for wildlife conservation, [and] for cultural resource conservation,” he said. “We're talking about thousands and thousands of ungulates that winter and migrate throughout this area.”
Skroch said the region also has cultural significance for Indigenous communities.
Other alternatives the BLM is considering will prioritize land uses like oil and gas drilling and grazing. Valid existing rights on the landscape will remain in effect no matter how the agency proceeds, and the final proposal is guaranteed to include a mix of development and conservation.
“A good question for the public to ponder and to provide input on is what are the priorities that the BLM should have front and center when it comes to making the final changes and adopting this plan within the next year,” Skroch said.
Several prominent state officials have been quick to provide their criticisms of the BLM’s plans, especially their “preferred alternative.” A representative for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming told the Casper Star Tribune that they were “frustrated” by the proposal initially, arguing it doesn’t reach a correct balance between multiple land uses.
Gov. Mark Gordon responded to the draft plans as well, though he said he intends to review the long documents in more detail with a “fine-tooth comb.”
“Upon first glance, I am extremely disappointed, yet not surprised, by the redirection this Administration is taking with this draft,” Gordon said in a statement. “Over a decade’s worth of work from Wyoming’s cooperating agencies, local stakeholders, and impacted industries seems to have fallen on the deaf ears of the federal BLM and its imperious agenda.”
The final plan will guide management decisions on more than 3.5 million acres in parts of Lincoln, Sweetwater, Uinta, Sublette and Fremont counties.
Editor's Note 8/28: A previous version of this story listed the Petroleum Association of Wyoming as the "Wyoming Petroleum Association." That error has since been corrected.
