Pocatello, ID -- The BlueRibbon Coalition expressed
appreciation for the initiative of several key members of Congress, who are
taking action in opposition to the Department of the Interior's (DOI) efforts
to conduct a never-ending Wilderness inventory process.
Senate Western Caucus Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY), joined
Congressman Rob Bishop (UT-01) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in questioning
Bureau of Land Management guidance manuals that continue the controversial Wild
Lands policy killed by Congress in April 2011. The manuals include language
identical to Secretarial order 3310 and its supporting documents, known as the
DOI's Wild Lands memo, mandating BLM employees engage in a ongoing inventory
for lands with Wilderness characteristics.
In the letter to Secretary Salazar, Caucus members wrote,
"The Department's recent actions greatly undermine both your commitment to
working with us, your duty to follow both the letter and spirit of the
Congressional mandate to withhold funding for the Wildlands policy, and the
Obama Administration's commitment towards being the 'most transparent' in
history. We urge you to withdraw BLM Manuals 6310 and 6320 immediately,
and create a public process for crafting these manuals that are so vital to the
management of western public lands."
In addition to Barrasso, Hatch and Bishop, the letter was
signed by Senators Mike Crapo, Mike Enzi, Dean Heller, Jon Kyl, Mike Lee, Lisa
Murkowski, Jim Risch and Representatives Mark Amodei, Jason Chaffetz, Jeff
Denham, Jeff Flake, Paul Gosar, Raul Labrador, Cynthia Lummis, Tom McClintock
and Steve Pearce.
The letter to Secretary Salazar is here.
A background paper distributed by the Western Caucus is here.
A press release from the Senate Western Caucus is here.
Greg Mumm, BRC's Executive Director said the congressional
oversight is appreciated by many in the West who have been fighting the
agency's attempt to add additional Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) each time a new
management plan is created. "The effort to require the BLM to conduct an
endless Wilderness inventory has been the single most controversial policy
initiative in the agency's history. This ill-conceived Wilderness review
process has been nothing but a waste of valuable resources and budgets. We very
much appreciate the efforts of the Western Caucus."
While applauding the action, BRC's Public Lands Policy
Director, Brian Hawthorne, could not help but note that the planning
regulations, promulgated at the end of the Clinton Administration, were
continued by the Bush Administration. He said, "This policy began under
Secretary Bruce Babbitt in 1998. It was incorporated into official BLM planning
regulations in 2002 and has continued largely under the radar until Secretary
Salazar elevated the effort to a 'Secretarial Order.' In every respect, we must
thank Secretary Salazar's over-reach for bringing this policy to the attention
of Congress and the public."
Some Important
History
In 1996, then Secretary Bruce Babbitt initiated a
re-inventory of BLM lands in Utah
and attempted to nearly double the amount of WSAs in the state. That process
was challenged in federal court by the State of Utah
and several Utah
counties. Years later, the BLM, under Interior Secretary Gale Norton, agreed
that the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the law that created
the BLM, actually precluded the agency from formally establishing WSAs outside
of the process mandated in Section 603. The Utah lawsuit was suspended upon the signing
of a settlement agreement, sometimes referred to "Norton-Leavitt
Settlement." BLM then suspended its effort to designate new WSAs in Utah.
FLPMA Section 603 instructs the BLM to conduct a Wilderness
inventory and to make formal recommendations on which, if any, of its lands
should be included in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Those lands
were to be formally designated Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) and only Congress
could remove that designation. Congress was very specific that the inventory should
take place one time and one time only. After the recommendations were made, BLM
was to manage the WSAs allowing existing uses, but not to the extent that those
uses prevent Congress from designating the lands Wilderness.
What the BLM did then was to simply change the name of the
new WSAs and continued on its merry way. Under guidance issued for its Land Use
Planning process, it simply substituted Wilderness Study Area with "Lands
with Wilderness Characteristics." The existing guidance (prior to the Salazar
Order) directs BLM land managers to continue to conduct Wilderness inventories,
but does so through the land use planning process, and although it uses the
term LWC, it does not formally establish a "designation." Secretary
Salazar modified these directives and gave these new LWC lands the official
designation of "Wildlands."
BLM Resource Management Plans (RMP) finalized in Utah, Arizona
and other states have incorporated the Wilderness inventory process into new
RMPs. Management of the LWC lands in the new RMP focuses on protecting
Wilderness character, which has resulted in the highly ironic situation where
LWC lands are actually managed much more restrictively than the original WSAs.
Salazar's order doubles down on the Bush Administration
planning guidance, elevating it to a Secretarial Order, and mandating that
Wilderness inventory be ongoing. The draft Manual dumbs down the definition of
Wilderness so the maximum acreage will qualify as having "wilderness
characteristics." The Order mandates Wilderness analysis occur during any
site-specific NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process that takes place
within LWC lands. It also appears to mandate a Wilderness review for lands that
may be identified as potential LWC lands in a future RMP. Finally, the Order
mandates a Wilderness review and analysis on ANY project if a Wilderness
activist group, or a BLM staff member, identifies Wilderness as a
"significant issue" in the NEPA process.
