We’re one step closer to understanding how 3.6 million federal acres in southwest Wyoming will be managed. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an updated plan this week that attempts to strike a balance between resource development and conservation.
The BLM’s final environmental impact statement brings clarity to the agency’s proposed Resource Management Plan for the Rock Springs Field Office. The initial draft of the plan was released a year ago. It offered four alternatives ranging from no changes to conservation-heavy to development-heavy. At the time, the BLM’s preferred alternative was ‘B,’ which prioritized conservation. This sparked much controversy, especially amongst political leaders and the energy industry.
In the months since, the BLM received an unprecedented 35,000-plus public comments. Gov. Mark Gordon even appointed a task-force to try to find common ground amongst stakeholders.
The updated document, released Thursday morning, is an attempt to include that feedback.
For example, rather than two million acres, only about a million would be closed off to oil and gas drilling. It’ll also let the state take the lead on protection of big game migration routes. The state’s policy tends to find compromises to allow development. Another stand out change is the reduction in Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) from 1.6 million acres to 935,000 acres. Right now, the field office has 226,000 acres of ACEC’s. Each is different, but generally ACEC’s have special management protocols to protect lands with important values.
The plan itself is 438 pages, but has a second volume with references and a glossary that's 1,152 pages long. So initial reactions are still vague.
In a press release, Gordon expressed disappointment.
“A cursory review makes it clear where the BLM considered local and cooperative input, and where the agency chose to force through national agendas,” Gordon said. “Much work is left to ensure the BLM is staying within the bounds of state and county policies, as well as federal law.”
He specifically highlighted that too many acres were assigned as ACEC’s and that doesn't meet the state’s expectations of “multi-use.”
Elected officials have implied that if the BLM doesn’t align with the state’s requests there could be a lawsuit.
As for conservation and wildlife groups, they have mixed feelings so far. Sections that they like focus on closing off mineral and renewable energy development in parts of the northern part of the field office, like the Golden Triangle, Big Sand Foothills, Steamboat Mountain and Jack Morrow Hills.
“We’re really excited to see the BLM make some hard decisions and really stand up and say, “We're gonna prioritize the ecological integrity and wildlife values of these areas’,” said Lauren Marsh, BLM program manager for Wyoming Wilderness Association. “They're also really important to a lot of different tribal nations that have ties to these places, and so we're prioritizing those things.”
There are parts of the plan that are pause for concern, said Marsh. Like, not giving any lands the special protection called Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWCs), which can offer more tools for preservation. Marsh pointed to an area northwest of Adobe Town.
“That has some really important wildlife habitat, some unique geological features, high density of archeological sites really important to a lot of tribes, and that area has had protection in place since 1997 and beyond,” she said. “And they removed those in this proposed plan.”
The next step in the BLM’s process is a 30-day public protest period. In order to participate one would have had to have provided public comment earlier. The BLM’s lead public affairs specialist Micky Fisher said nothing is set in stone.
“We're not covering our ears and closing our eyes to that type of feedback,” he said. “Ultimately, we're going to continue to leverage what we receive and what we have currently to try to get to that happy medium.”
After the protest period closes, the agency will review the feedback and possibly update the plan before releasing the final version. Fisher said it’s hard to pinpoint how long that’ll take, but possibly two to three months.
