Proposal would allow conservation groups to lease fed lands
Millard County commissioners agreed recently to join the state and other counties in opposition to a proposed Bureau of Land Management federal rule change that some believe would reduce the productivity of public lands.
The rule change essentially would allow conservation groups to compete with industry—mining, energy extraction, livestock grazing and the like—in securing long-term leases of federal public lands.
“The proposed Public Lands Rule, which was announced in late March, would provide tools for the BLM to protect healthy public lands in the face of increasing drought, wildfire and climate impacts; conserve important wildlife habitat and intact landscapes; better use science and data in decision-making; plan for thoughtful development; and better recognize unique cultural and natural resources on public lands,” according to a recent public statement by the federal agency regarding the proposal.
Commissioner Vicki Lyman brought up the subject during a discussion of other business at the county commission’s May 23 meeting.
“The BLM is proposing a new rule change where conservation groups can actually lease the land and keep everybody off of it,” she said, describing a letter she recently saw from the state’s Department of Natural Resources. “I know the state of Utah and the state of Wyoming have joined together to help fight against it.”
Utah’s entire congressional delegation is also against the rule change, according to a May 26 report in The Salt Lake Tribune.
“This new leasing regime opens the door for a new, noncompetitive process designed to lock away parcels of land, with no limits to size, for a period of 10 or more years,” Sens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney wrote in a letter to BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning, according to the Tribune report. “It’s clear that anti-grazing and anti-development organizations would abuse this tool to attempt to halt ranching and block access to our nation’s abundant energy reserves located on public lands.”
The letter was signed by 14 other U.S. senators and cited a variety of other concerns, including public meetings, impacts to public access and recreation on public lands, and a potential threat to grazing permits senators said was reminiscent of similar efforts in the 1990s.
“In grazing regulatory revisions in the 1990s, BLM attempted to weaponize conservation as a means to decrease grazing levels across the West. Moreover, BLM has repeatedly justified decreases in grazing activities through erroneous assertions that other uses provide more ‘benefit’ to conservation,” the letter to Stone-Manning reads. “These past actions, coupled with the lack of transparency with which this proposed rule was drafted, create a valid concern that this proposal will be used to reduce or eliminate grazing on public lands.”
The proposed rule change has already attracted more than 47,000 public comments, according to a BLM website detailing each missive.
Five public meetings were held on the item, including two virtual hearings and meetings in Denver, Albuquerque and Reno. The last hearing took place on Monday virtually.
The public comment period is open until June 20. Comments can be made by going online to https://www.regulations.gov/document/BLM- 2023-0001-0001.
Lyman said she commented in April. Her colleagues on the commission agreed with her a letter should be crafted outlining the county’s opposition.
“In my opinion, I would suggest we do. Our county has traditionally stood in opposition of really what’s happening. The use of public lands should go back to to the way it more traditionally was,” Commission Chair Bill Wright said. “I would be willing to sign a letter as a commissioner.”
Wright added that he was concerned that conservation efforts on public lands could reduce production on those lands and thus reduce the financial benefits that accrue to the county.
Approximately 78 percent of land in the county is managed by federal agencies. That figure rises to 87 percent when state-managed public lands are included.
Wright suggested Lyman work with County Clerk Marki Rowley and County Attorney Pat Finlinson to craft a response to the rule that spells out how the county itself could be impacted.