BLM to Amend Key Land-Use Plans

by Tom Darin

The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of amending its outdated resource management plans (RMPs) for the Pinedale and Great Divide resource areas. Totaling 6.2 million acres of public land, these areas are rich in natural values, including abundant wildlife and key migration corridors, important watersheds, rangelands and scenic open spaces.

The BLM is charged with managing public lands under the concept of

Atlantic Rim, near Lone Butte, within the Great Divide RMP Resource Area. Numerous exploratory CBM projects are underway here, as well as the 4,000-well Atlantic Rim Project Photo by Erik Molvar, Biodiversity Associates

"multiple use." Multiple use includes recreation, livestock grazing, logging and energy development, the stewardship of watersheds, wildlife and fish, and the protection of natural, scenic, scientific and historical values. The BLM's multiple-use mandate requires the agency to manage resources on public lands to ensure that all "are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people."

In amending RMPs, the BLM forecasts projected levels and impacts of varying multiple uses. Unfortunately, the driving impetus behind RMP amendments for the Pinedale and Great Divide resource areas is the BLM's recognition that its existing RMPs are increasingly out of date because of dramatically increased levels of projected oil and gas development in both areas, including - for the first time - addressing the unique environmental impacts of coalbed methane development.

Both RMP amendments must provide a reasonably foreseeable development scenario for projected oil and gas development, evaluate current management and its effectiveness in preserving other resources and identify areas that are inappropriate for leasing or should be leased with stipulations and surface-use restrictions.

Given industry's determination to exploit these scenic and wildlife-rich areas and the administration's drill-everything policy, WOC will press the BLM to adhere to its multiple-use mandate by ensuring a proper balance of resource uses.

Official "scoping" will proceed this summer - look for our Action Alerts on these key RMP amendment processes. We will need your help to ensure that wildlife and wild places in the Pinedale and Great Divide areas are protected!