This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated BLM Director Tracy Stone Manning had rejected Gov. Mark Gordon’s appeal to the agency’s response to his consistency review, as written in the ROD. However, that rejection was signed by BLM Principal Deputy Director Nada Culver.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has finalized a plan that will guide energy development and conservation on roughly 3.6 million acres of public land near Rock Springs.
The Record of Decision marks the end of a years-long process that’s drawn outcry from Wyoming officials and some residents, who say their input was overlooked and that the plan will harm the state’s energy sector.
That includes Gov. Mark Gordon’s recent appeal to the agency to reconsider some aspects of the plan that Gordon said don’t align with county land use plans. BLM Principal Deputy Director Nada Culver rejected Gordon’s recommendations.
“While it is not surprising that Wyoming’s comments were figuratively dumped in the trash, it is disappointing that despite years of collaborative work between state agencies, impacted counties, concerned citizens, and interest groups, all Wyoming is left with is this parting shot from the Biden Administration,” Gordon wrote in a press release.
“I am absolutely committed to reviewing and pursuing all the options we have to claw back this misguided ROD,” Gordon continued. “With President Trump in office, former Governor Burgum at the head of the Department of the Interior, and a Republican Senate and House, I am confident that we will have the ability to finish the job and right a course that has been so far off track over the last four years.”
Gordon said he’s also consulting the state attorney general to see if the plan meets conditions set by the Legislature to move forward with the sale of the Kelly Parcel to Grand Teton National Park.
Conservation groups, meanwhile, are celebrating what they call wins for wildlife habitat and cultural sites of the Northern Red Desert and Big Sandy Foothills. The Wilderness Society said the plan incorporates 85 percent of the recommendations made by the group of local community members that the governor assembled this year to suggest improvements.
“This is how conscientious, transparent land-use planning is supposed to work,” said Julia Stuble, Wyoming state director of The Wilderness Society. “The agency listened to local communities and acted in the public interest when deciding to protect the remarkable wildlife habitat and cultural sites of the Northern Red Desert and Big Sandy Foothills from oil and gas and other development. While we are dismayed the BLM did not close crucial stopover sites in antelope and mule deer migration corridors to oil and gas drilling, this plan is nonetheless a good-faith effort to provide durable guidance that balances conservation, access to outdoor recreation and energy needs. The respect paid to Governor Gordon’s task force, by including so many of their recommendations, is noteworthy.”
A Center for Western Priorities analysis of 35,000 public comments found that 92 percent supported the conservation measures in BLM’s first proposed management plan for the area.
The Rock Springs Resource Management Plan replaces the 1997 Green River RMP.