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sage grouse

Field Notes


Keep up the pressure to save our sagebrush

Posted on by Meghan Riley

The Bureau of Land Management rang in the new year with a bang and has cued up a public comment doubleheader for two upcoming oil and gas lease sales. I hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to share your views on both sales with the BLM in one fell swoop!

First up, the newly proposed September lease sale would open more than 95,000 acres of public land to oil and gas development, 20 percent of which overlaps priority sage-grouse habitat. With sagebrush habitat in freefall, and ongoing sage-grouse population declines, we should be shoring up the best remaining sage-grouse habitat, not leasing it out for industrial development. Also of concern is a parcel directly adjacent to, and possibly overlapping, two Wilderness Study Areas (Alkali Basin/East Sand Dune and Red Lake) and 19 parcels in crucial winter range for mule deer, pronghorn, and elk.

COMMENT ON THE SEPTEMBER SALE

I do have some good news to share: Thanks in part to public comments from people like you, the BLM issued an Environmental Assessment that could remove 80,000 acres of public land from the June lease sale, much of which was also in priority sage-grouse habitat. Now is the time to let the BLM know that we are in favor of these deferrals. That said, dozens of parcels are still being offered in priority sage-grouse habitat along with three parcels in Wyoming’s officially designated Baggs mule deer migration corridor. I encourage you to speak up on behalf of these conservation values on our public lands.

COMMENT ON THE JUNE SALE

Your comments can be brief and highlight your own personal connection to the wildlife and landscapes in question. You may also want to highlight that:

  • The BLM has made previous commitments to avoid new surface disturbance in high priority habitat, yet both proposed sales include parcels that lie within this core sage-grouse habitat.
  • Across the West, we are losing 1.3 million acres of sagebrush habitat annually and the primary threat to sagebrush in Wyoming is development. Protecting core, healthy tracts of sagebrush habitat from disturbance is crucial to the ecosystem and benefits many other species of wildlife that depend on sagebrush.
  • More than 8 million acres of public lands in Wyoming are already leased to oil and gas companies, with 4.2 million acres sitting idle and undeveloped. Companies have ample opportunity for drilling without the BLM leasing additional parcels.

Comments on the September sale are due Jan. 19, and comments for the June sale are due Jan. 23.

Thank you for your commitment to the lands and wildlife that sustain us all!

Field Notes


Action alert: Insist the BLM safeguard sage-grouse habitat in Wyoming

Posted on by Meghan Riley

The Bureau of Land Management has announced plans to lease more than 250,000 acres of public lands in Wyoming for oil and gas development in the beginning of 2023. Sage-grouse habitat is impacted on nearly every acre of the proposed lease sale. 

Greater sage-grouse have declined across their range by 80% since 1965, and habitat loss is a significant driver in those declines. We are losing sagebrush habitat at a rate of 1.3 million acres a year throughout the West, but Wyoming is a bright spot, retaining more intact sagebrush habitat than any other state in the union. Wyoming has a valuable role to play in preserving sage-grouse populations and the sagebrush ecosystem by shoring up our remaining stretches of healthy habitat. 

SUBMIT A PUBLIC COMMENT

We at the Wyoming Outdoor Council believe the BLM should, at minimum, remove all parcels encompassing “priority” or “core” sage-grouse habitat from this sale — although offering any parcels within “general” sage-grouse habitat is also ill-advised. The development that we allow in Wyoming has far-reaching implications for the persistence of sage-grouse nationally, and staving off an Endangered Species Act listing depends on providing these birds the space they need on the landscape. Given the downward trajectory of sage-grouse numbers, we should not be offering up sage-grouse habitat for industrial development. 

The BLM is accepting public scoping comments until Nov. 7 to identify issues that should be addressed in the agency’s environmental review. If you have a moment, send a brief, personal message to the BLM asking that sage-grouse core areas be removed from the sale. Sharing your concerns with the sale, and your personal connection to the wildlife and landscapes that will be affected, can help influence the agency to take conservation values into account. 

In your comments, you may want to highlight that:

  • The vast majority of the proposed lease sale falls in sage-grouse habitat (205 out of 209 parcels). The BLM has made previous commitments to avoid new surface disturbance in high priority habitat, yet 70 of the parcels lie within this core sage-grouse habitat. 
  • Across the West, we are losing 1.3 million acres of sagebrush habitat annually and the primary threat to sagebrush in Wyoming is development. Protecting core, healthy tracts of sagebrush habitat from disturbance is crucial to the ecosystem and benefits numerous other species of wildlife that depend on sagebrush.
  • More than 8 million acres of public lands in Wyoming are already leased to oil and gas companies, with 4.2 million acres sitting idle and undeveloped. Companies have ample opportunity for drilling without the BLM leasing additional parcels. 

Thank you for taking the time to be a champion for our wild species and wild places. If you have questions, please reach out to Meghan Riley, the Outdoor Council’s public lands and wildlife advocate. 

SUBMIT A PUBLIC COMMENT

Field Notes


Tell the BLM to keep Wyoming wildlife habitat off the auction block

Posted on by John Rader

Tell the BLM to keep Wyoming wildlife habitat off the auction block

At the start of 2022, the federal government plans to lease more than 179,000 acres of public lands in Wyoming for oil and gas development.

While the Wyoming Outdoor Council appreciates that the Bureau of Land Management removed many parcels within “priority” or “core” sage-grouse habitat from this sale, most of the remaining parcels are still well within the imperiled bird’s range. Sage-grouse are in steep decline across the West, and the federal government is currently updating its management plans in an effort to prevent an Endangered Species Act listing. Until we have an updated strategy, based on the best available science, we should not be offering up sage-grouse habitat for industrial development.

The BLM is accepting public comment until Dec. 1. If you have a moment, please to send a brief, personal message to the BLM asking that sensitive wildlife habitat be removed from the sale.

SUBMIT A PUBLIC COMMENT

As you may know, lease sales were paused early this year so the Department of the Interior could conduct a review of the program because of fiscal waste and problems with accountability and transparency that the Government Accountability Office has flagged for decades. That review has still not been completed, but for the time being a federal judge has ordered leasing to resume.

The upcoming sale illustrates some of the faults with the current leasing system. It includes parcels adjacent to wilderness study areas, in some of our best wildlife habitat, and in areas that are highly prized for backcountry recreation and hunting — even though they’ve been shown to have low potential for ever producing oil and gas. The BLM did not meet its obligation to consult meaningfully with Tribes that have ancestral ties to the region. And the environmental review did not consider localized impacts of climate change, such as the effects on wildlife habitat, water resources, or wildfires.

Five million acres of public lands in Wyoming are leased for oil and gas but not yet developed. Clearly the industry has what it needs to continue business-as-usual drilling and production for many years to come, so let’s make sure our irreplaceable wildlife have the space they need to thrive.