Salt Lake City News

Guest Column

The BLM is Doing the Right Thing in Utah

By Miles Moretti and Steven Belinda, Guest Writer, 11-21-07

The aspens on the mountainsides have turned yellow and dropped their leaves, and the echoing sound of bugling bull elk is a fresh memory of a recent hunting adventure. During these fall months, when Utah sportsmen are out in the field chasing mule deer and elk, the Bureau of Land Management is doing the right thing on behalf of Utah’s wildlife and the public’s sporting opportunities.

For the first time in two decades, the Bureau of Land Management has cancelled an oil and gas lease auction in Utah. The agency recognized that further studies are needed about the effects of energy development on important wildlife habitat – places crucial to the future of Utah’s hunting traditions. In its cancellation notice for the Nov. 13 sale, the BLM states, “Further review of the NEPA analysis provisions is warranted to consider new wildlife habitat information available from the State of Utah, Division of Wildlife Resources.”

The Mule Deer Foundation, which works to conserve mule deer and black-tailed deer and their habitats, views the agency’s decision as cause for celebration. In cancelling the sale, the BLM continues an encouraging journey of considering environmental impacts and sportsmen’s interests before converting public resources to private interests. In August, the BLM withdrew half the acreage proposed for energy leasing – more than 72,000 acres – following protests by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a sportsmen’s coalition.

The BLM’s decision is right for so many reasons. It takes a step toward balanced, responsible oversight of Utah’s public lands. It demonstrates the BLM’s willingness to follow federal law, which requires study of new and current scientific information concerning how public lands management affects fish, wildlife and other resources. And it affirms that the interests of Americans who cherish the outdoors are not being ignored.

Since 1996, more than 25 million acres of the Rocky Mountain West have been leased for oil and gas development. In 2006, the BLM received more than 10,400 applications for permits to drill for natural gas, a record high and a 20-percent increase from 2005.

Right now in Utah, six BLM and six Forest Service offices are determining management of more than 16 million acres of public lands. Nearly 9,000 new natural gas wells might be drilled on the BLM lands alone. Given the scale of future development in Utah, the BLM must follow its multiple-use mandate, employ peer-reviewed science and ensure consistent stakeholder involvement. Failure to do so will severely impact the land and our ability to hunt and fish on it.

Areas of Utah popular with sportsmen, like the Book Cliffs and Strawberry Reservoir, already are leased for development. These places have extremely high recreation values, yet the Forest Service and BLM have not committed to cultivating their energy resources in consideration of fish and wildlife. The state of Utah has worked too hard over the last century rebuilding fisheries habitat and sage brush for big-game browse to throw it away because we’re in too big a hurry to manage our energy reserves conscientiously.

This simple admission by the Utah BLM – that more study is needed – speaks to challenges inherent in the leasing process. Leases are contractual obligations for development. Management plans must be finalized prior to leasing if public land uses like hunting and hiking are to be preserved. If the BLM leases lands for energy development then later realizes it made a mistake – or overlooked crucial information that impacts mule deer, trout or sage grouse – it can do little to reverse its decision. Energy development and its infrastructure can have far-reaching implications on a landscape and its users, including fish, wildlife and people. And development at this scale should be dependent on science, not a blanketed approach that fails to consider the unique qualities of diverse landscapes.

Utah’s hunting and fishing opportunities are world-renowned. Now is the time to protect that resource and the $650 million that hunting and fishing contribute annually to Utah’s economy. It is encouraging to see the BLM in Utah beginning to take a harder look at energy development – one that should become consistent practice by the BLM, in Utah and across the West.

We at the Mule Deer Foundation and TRCP want to work with hunters, anglers and the BLM to ensure that development of America’s energy resources is balanced with sensible management of fish and wildlife resources. We owe it to ourselves and coming generations to make decisions that maintain our high quality of life and traditions.

The BLM’s next Utah lease sale is scheduled for February. Let’s work together to ensure that the BLM continues to honor our outdoor heritage.

Miles Moretti is the president/CEO of the Mule Deer Foundation. Steven Belinda manages the TRCP’s energy initiative.

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