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Wyoming is talking about the greater sage-grouse again: a polarizing topic that has been in conversation amongst western states over the last couple of decades. The federal government wants to expand the bird’s protected range, and the state is skeptical about that plan. So, state officials and locals recently put their heads together about it to craft their own plan.
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Seventy-six wildlife conservation groups have petitioned the Department of the Interior to ban the use of M-44s on Bureau of Land Management lands. The devices, commonly known as “cyanide bombs,” remain a controversial tool for predator mitigation.
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The public comment period for the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed public lands rule closed this week, with well over 200,000 people weighing in. The Center for Western Priorities, which supports the proposal, analyzed those comments and found that an overwhelming majority was supportive.
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The Bureau of Land Management will extend the public comment period through July 5 on a proposal to elevate conservation on its lands. The announcement follows significant pushback from conservatives, energy companies and ranchers in the Mountain West
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One element of the BLM’s proposed Public Lands Rule would allow for so-called conservation leasing, which would enable public and private entities to carry out restoration work or compensatory mitigation to offset the impacts of projects. The Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, says that such leases could speed the development of clean energy on public lands, an important prospect given the Biden administration’s ambitious goal of permitting 25 gigawatts of such projects by 2025.
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The Bureau of Land Management is proposing a new Public Lands Rule that would - among other things - clarify that "conservation is a use on par with other uses of federal public lands."
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Several environmental and wild horse advocacy groups are suing the federal government over a wild horse management plan in Wyoming. The controversy comes as more roundups are being scheduled this year across the Mountain West.
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Congress is once again considering reforming the permitting process for energy projects. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing Thursday, May 11, about opportunities to speed up both renewable and fossil fuel development.
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The Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit, recently released its annual rankings of the best places to work in the federal government. It found that working at a national park is no picnic.
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The Interior Department announced about $300 million in new funding last week for conservation projects. The majority of the money comes from the 2021's bipartisan infrastructure law, and many of the investments focus on ecosystems and water resources in the Mountain West.