New report identifies importance of proposed conservation rule
New report identifies importance of proposed conservation rule
Jun 15, 2023
Issue: Conservation
Subject: BLM, Interior, Lobbying & Politics
To steward America’s public lands for future generations, the Biden administration needs to finalize strong, durable conservation regulations, according to a new report by the Center for American Progress.
The report, which analyzes the importance of conservation for the benefit of wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, economic health, and cultural preservation, highlights the opportunity for the Biden administration to provide necessary conservation for unprotected public lands by bolstering and implementing the Public Lands Rule—a Bureau of Land Management proposal to put conservation on equal footing with other uses on public lands, including drilling, grazing, and mining.
This morning, the House Natural Resources Committee is holding a hearing on a bill that would preemptively block the proposed rule.
“The pearl-clutching opposition to a draft proposal is perplexing,” Center for Western Priorities Deputy Director Aaron Weiss said in a statement leading up to the hearing. “The entire point of a public comment period is to refine a new rule so that it can best achieve its goals. Instead of holding bombastic hearings to decry a work-in-progress, members of Congress should sit down with the authors of the proposed rule, understand how and why it’s written the way it is, and provide constructive feedback to help make it even better.”
In celebration of the Bureau of Land Management’s $161 million investment in Western landscape restoration projects, Look West is highlighting a different “Restoration Landscape“ each day for 21 days. Today’s landscape is the Southeast Oregon Sagebrush. An investment of $5 million will go toward planting sagebrush, treating invasive vegetation, promoting growth of native vegetation, and creating fuel breaks in uplands, resultantly restoring habitat for hundreds of species, including the greater sage-grouse.
Quick hits
Audit finds Colorado failed to properly regulate gas pipelines, penalize providers after explosions
It’s not just an Apache fight. It’s become so much bigger. It’s become a fight for humanity, a fight for ethics, about the freedom of religion. It’s about the fundamental morals of this country.”
—Naelyn Pike, Member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Los Angeles Times
Our public lands provide millions of visitors some of the greatest wildlife viewing opportunities in the world. The safety of these animals, as well as your safety, depends on everyone using good judgment and following the rules.
Each day, the Center for Western Priorities compiles the best of Western public lands and energy development news. Take a look at our recent newsletters, and sign up here.
Kate hosts a live episode in Salt Lake City on CWP’s Keep Parks Public tour! Guests: Erika Pollard, National Parks Conservation Association; Davina Smith, Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and Grand Staircase Escalante Partners; Scott Braden, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; Doug Tolman, Save Our Canyons. Resources Keep Parks Public: Tell us why you love public lands […]
The Bureau of Land Management’s proposed Public Lands Rule, introduced in March, would seek to put conservation on equal footing with mining, drilling, livestock grazing, and other uses on public lands, in part by offering conservation leases—types of leases where an external entity could propose to enter into an agreement with the BLM to help […]
The President promised Tribal leaders he would protect this sacred Nevada landscape. What is he waiting for? It’s been 100 days since President Joe Biden promised he would protect a large swath of Mojave Desert in southern Nevada called Avi Kwa Ame that is sacred to multiple tribes, including the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and the Hopi Tribe. […]
DENVER—The White House today announced it is re-nominating Laura Daniel-Davis to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Interior Department. This marks the third time Daniel-Davis has been submitted to the Senate. In 2022, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declined to place Daniel-Davis’s nomination on the Senate floor calendar, despite her having […]
It’s not just an Apache fight. It’s become so much bigger. It’s become a fight for humanity, a fight for ethics, about the freedom of religion. It’s about the fundamental morals of this country.”