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revised BLM Manual 6310 (Conducting Wilderness Inventories on BLM Lands). The citizen-led inventory,
submitted as part of our comments on the BLM White River Field Offices RMP Amendment, confirmed
many conclusions of the BLMs initial efforts; however, it also identified numerous significant gaps in the
BLMs preliminary inventory, including the misidentification of boundary roads and the arbitrary
exclusion of qualifying acreage. This information was compiled into a report which proposed that 38
units totaling 322,000 acres met the criteria for lands with wilderness characteristics.
In a response to this citizens
inventory, and as an effort to
improve the quality of BLMs
own inventory and to better
meet current BLM policies,
the White River Field Office
conducted detailed field
inventories of the entire field
office in 2012 and 2013. Thisextensive effort to detail
existing on-the-ground
conditions included
informative photographs,
detailed maps, and objective
assessments of the
wilderness characteristics of
all the potential lands with wilderness characteristics in the field office. The result of this closer look
was a much-improved inventory which found wilderness characteristics in 35 units comprising around
304,000 acres.
The Little Snake Field Office also released updated lands with wilderness characteristics information in
2013. While there is still significant inventory work to be done in the LSFO, the manner and level of
detail with which the completed lands with wilderness characteristics inventory was presented to the
public on the field offices LWC webpage (http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/lsfo/plans/lwc.html)goes
above and beyond what has been released elsewhere in the state and provides a framework for how
this information should be presented in all BLM field offices. The LSFOs webpage includes detailed
inventory reports for over 50 potential LWC units. Each of these reports include a detailed map,
substantial photographic documentation, relevant route analysis forms, and thoughtful and objective
narrative describing and defending the determinations made by BLM on each units boundaries as wellas the presence or absence of wilderness characteristics located therein. Lands with wilderness
characteristics inventories contain large amounts of information and data, yet the Little Snake Field
Office has shown that this information can be simply and thoroughly presented to the public once it is
collected.
Looking into the Willow Creek WSA Additions LWC
Soren Jespersen
http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/lsfo/plans/lwc.htmlhttp://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/lsfo/plans/lwc.htmlhttp://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/lsfo/plans/lwc.htmlhttp://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/lsfo/plans/lwc.html8/13/2019 2013 CAPE Awards
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The White River and Little Snake Field Offices have certainly earned their CAPEs for their efforts to
accurately identify and document the existing lands with wilderness characteristics within those field
offices. These field offices have created an example for other field offices in the state on how to conduct
detailed and objective lands with wilderness characteristics inventories and how to effectively present
the documentation for these decisions to the public. However, the BLM now has the responsibility to
ensure that these lands are protected and a balance is crafted between undeveloped lands open to
multiple uses and the single-use areas of intensive oil and gas development.
2. BLM Takes a Stand for Conservation in the Ironwood Forest NationalMonument (4 CAPEs)
Recipient: Claire Crow, Monument Manager
In March, BLM signed the Approved Resource Management Plan/Record of Decision for the Ironwood
Forest National Monument, a unit of the BLMs National Landscape Conservation System. Many of the
plans decisions provide the type of analysis and decision-making that prioritizes conservation over
other multiple uses, in line with the mission and policies for the National Landscape Conservation
System. For example, the plan designated roads for access into the Monument but left a majority of the
area as non-motorized to facilitate conservation and provide access to quiet use recreation
opportunities. In addition, due to the ongoing problem of vandalism to Monument resources from
recreational target shooting in the Monument, BLM undertook a scientific analysis of the use to inform
its management options. In the end, despite heavy political pressure, BLM stood by its scientific analysis
and findings leading the agency to prohibit recreational target shooting within the Monument, while still
permitting hunting with firearms in the area. It is this type of tough decision-making in favor of
conservation that sets the BLM on the path towards a stronger, more robust system of Conservation
Lands as originally envisioned when the National Landscape Conservation System was established.
Since the Ironwood Forest plan has been released, we have already seen improvements in conservation
efforts on-the-ground. Unfortunately, vandalism from recreational target shooting remains a major issue
in another nearby BLM Monument, the Sonoran Desert National Monument, where BLM did a similar
evaluation and came to similar conclusions as Ironwood Forest, but instead buckled to political pressure
and kept the status quo management regime for this use. We are currently working to overturn that
arbitrary decision in the Sonoran Desert National Monument and get the Monument back on track.
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3. Arizona BLM Finalizes Statewide Plan for Smart Solar and Wind Development(4 CAPEs)
Recipient: Kathy Pedrick, BLM Arizona State Office
In January the Arizona BLM published the Record of Decision for the Restoration Design Energy Project
(RDEP), a forward-thinking planning initiative that will help to guide and incentivize low-conflict
renewable energy development in Arizona. RDEP includes a statewide identification and prioritization
of previously disturbed and low-conflict lands appropriate for renewable energy development. This
proactive approach will help minimize negative impacts to sensitive wildlands andwildlife habitat and
will avoid and reduce conflicts between companies, government agencies and conservationists that can
result in costly project delays.
Developed in close coordination with the broader Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
(Solar PEIS) which was finalized in October 2012, RDEP provides a more detailed look at potential
development areas in Arizona. By analyzing potential low-conflict development areas across public,
private and state lands, BLM has effectively created a menu of good options from which developers can
choose from. In addition to screening out sensitive wildlands and wildlife habitat such as BLM-identified
Lands with Wilderness Characteristics, RDEP also provides incentives to developers who site their
projects in the low-conflict Renewable Energy Development Areas (REDAs) identified through the
process.
BLM has already seen some success in implementing RDEP the Maricopa Solar Park, proposed for a
REDA southeast of Phoenix, is now moving through the permitting process. Many of the requirements of
the Variance Process set out by the Solar PEIS for applications outside of Solar Energy Zones were met
because the application is in a REDA, allowing it to move efficiently through the Variance Process. We
look forward to working with BLM as it processes the Maricopa Solar Park application and we hope to
see more applications guided to low-conflict REDAs.
4. Regional Mitigation Guidance Provides a Landscape Approach to OffsettingImpacts (3 CAPEs)
Recipients: Jim Perry, Fluid Minerals Division; Matt Preston, NLCS Division
Historically, BLM has relied on project proponents to propose compensatory or offsite mitigation.
However, where damage to other public lands values and resources cannot be avoided or sufficiently
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minimized, such as when large-scale energy projects will occupy public land for decades, regional
compensatory mitigation is an important tool. In June of this year, BLM issued an interim regional
mitigation manual, which is effective immediately but can be refined based on comments.
The guidance issues a change in approach where BLM formally states that it can condition approval of
uses on sufficient off-site mitigation and provides detailed standards for designing appropriatemitigation. BLM will implement mitigation through overarching regional mitigation strategies (which will
be aimed at a landscape level vision), regional mitigation planning (to incorporate into plans), and
mitigation implementation (where requirements are incorporated into project approvals). By looking at
a landscape approach to design effective mitigation and ensure mitigation benefits other resources,
including lasting as long as those other resources are affected, BLM can develop a more strategic and
successful approach to incorporating compensatory mitigation into land management.
Secretary of the Interior Jewell just issued Secretarial Order 3330 on Improving Mitigation Policies and
Practices of the Department of the Interior and we look forward to BLM supporting her goals for
balancing energy and conservation by finalizing and implementing this manual.
5. Master Leasing Plans Officially Incorporated into Planning Handbook (3CAPEs)
Recipient: Minerals and Realty Management Office
One of the more progressive concepts put forth in the Obama administrations 2010 oil and gas leasing
reforms is a new Bureau of Land Management planning tool called Master Leasing Plans (MLPs). MLPs
provide a mechanism for BLM to develop a detailed plan for leasing and development across a
landscape where there are conflicts with other resources such as recreation, lands with wilderness
characteristics or wildlife values. These plans are developed through public input processes and
establish a smart from the start approach to oil and gas development on public lands.
While we applauded the MLP concept when it was introduced, implementation has been inconsistent
across BLM field offices and completely lacking in some places. Thats why we were glad to see BLM
issue more specific guidance with Instruction Memorandum 2013-101 and incorporate it into the
agencys Planning for Fluid Mineral ResourcesHandbook (H-1624-1) as Chapter V. The guidance provides
clear direction on the purpose for MLPs, stating that MLPs provide a framework and vision for how oil
and gas development will proceed within a specific area. The guidance also establishes resource
conditions objectives and resource protection measures as required elements of MLPs.
We are excited to see BLM incorporate Master Leasing Plans into the agencys Planning Handbook,
making a strong statement that this important tool is here to stay. Well continue encouraging BLM to
implement the new guidance in the many ongoing planning processes throughout the west with large oil
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and gas components. The Beaver Rim MLP in the Lander Resource Management Plan and the Carter MLP
in the Miles City Resource Management Plan are two examples where BLM is already moving forward
with this framework. We hope to see RMPs such as Grand Junction, White River and Rock Springs follow
suit.
6. BLM Completes Milestone on Road to Fixing West-Wide Energy Corridors (2CAPEs)
Recipient: Lucas Lucero and Joshua Hanson, BLM D.C. Office
Like guiding wind and solar projects to low-conflict areas, finding the right places for transmission lines is
a common sense approach. BLM completed an important milestone on that path in July by publishing
plans and agreements defining how BLM, Forest Service and the Department of Energy will re-evaluatethe West-wide Energy Corridors (corridors).
This type of landscape-level approach was one of the drivers for the original network of 6,000 miles of
corridors for pipelines and power lines across the west. Unfortunately, the original corridors designated
by the Bush administration in 2009 did not meet these goals. They included areas inappropriate for
development, such as the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico and the entrance to Arches
National Park in Moab, Utah. The 2009 corridors also failed to create pathways to carry renewable
energy from projects to cities that need it most.
Thanks to the
settlement agreement
we reached with the
agencies on our
lawsuit in July 2012,
there is now an
opportunity to fix the
corridors and create a
truly useful system.
The Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU)
published this July
dictates how the
agencies will complete
the first regional re-evaluation of the corridors. The companion Work Plan for Corridor Study (Work
Plan) will guide the agencies evaluation of how the corridors are being used (or not used) and what
improvements are needed to make them effective.
Antelope in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
US Fish and Wildlife Service
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It is key that BLM continues to meet its commitments under the settlement agreement, including
developing recommended corridor improvements through the first regional review by July 2014. We will
be continuing our efforts to help establish a system of corridors that protect wildlands and advance
renewables as the agencies implement the MOU and Work Plan.
7. Rapid Ecoregional Assessments Aim to Improve Landscape-Level Analysis (2CAPEs)
Recipient: Kit Muller, Renewable Resources and Planning Division
Over the past year, BLM has publicly released 4 Rapid Ecoregional Assessments (REAs) covering a
significant portion of lands managed by the agency including the Colorado Plateau, Sonoran Desert,
Mojave Basin and Range, and Central Basin and Range. This is the first time that BLM has done this type
of landscape-level analysis as well as the first time BLM has taken a look at climate change at this level.
The REAs will help inform future planning and projects by showing varying levels of intactness
throughout each ecoregion and the potential impacts of change agents, such as development, invasive
species, wildfire and climate change.
In February, BLM issued guidance on the utilization of regional assessments in general, including the
REAs. This guidance included suggestions for using this data in planning and management decisions as
well as for learning how to improve the REAs themselves, but did not provide strong direction for
incorporating REAs into land use planning. We look forward to seeing the other 10 REAs scheduled to be
released over the next year. We will be working with BLM and the data to help make land use planningand management decisions science-based, cross-jurisdictional, and responsive to climate change as well
as to identify areas that are appropriate for protective management and restoration.
The REAs provide a look at the landscape that BLM has never examined before. The key to the
effectiveness of the REAs will be transforming the science into real and lasting actions on the ground to
conserve and restore those deserving lands in need of protection as well as finding appropriate areas for
development.
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8. BLM Seizes Opportunity to Designate National Conservation Lands Throughthe Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (1 CAPE)
Recipient: Jim Kenna, BLM California State Director
The Bureau of Land Management has begun a new planning process that will identify and designate
certain lands in the 25-million acre California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) to be added to the
National Conservation Lands, while also determining other areas for conservation, renewable energy
development, and other uses. The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 made the National
Conservation Lands a permanent system of public lands conservation, and defined the lands that would
be included in the system, which includes public land within the California Desert Conservation Area
administered by the Bureau of Land Management for conservation purposes leaving it up to the BLM
to decide which lands in the CDCA would be identified as administered for conservation purposes.
The BLM is using a concurrent, overlapping planning process to identify the National Conservation Lands
in the CDCA. BLM will use the opportunity of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP)
to receive public comments and proposals for the addition of these areas to our National Conservation
Lands, and to consider those designations in the broader context of planning for renewable energy
development. BLM has already
indicated that lands identified as
California Desert National
Conservation Lands must be
nationally significant and possessoutstanding conservation values,
such as lands containing prehistoric
or historic sites, areas with a high
degree of intactness or that can be
restored to that level, and lands
that are valuable for scientific
research, education and discovery.
Many such lands in the California
desert also contain high scenic and
recreational values.
The BLM has a once in a lifetime opportunity to administratively designate new National Conservation
Lands and ensure those lands are managed to conserve their outstanding values. We hope to see BLM
move forward with a plan for the DRECP that designates the maximum amount of Conservation Lands
and manages them in a way that conforms to BLMs policy guidance for the National Conservation
Lands, including Secretarial Order 3308, the 15-Year Strategy for the Conservation Lands, and BLM
Manual 6100, and protects them from all energy development and harmful off-road vehicle use.
Silurian Valley
John Dittli
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Honorable Mention
These projects are headed in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done! We hope to see
these honorable mentions earn some CAPEs in 2014.
BLM Defers Oil and Gas Leasing In Sensitive Landscapes Across the West, But Threats
Remain and Landscape-Level Planning is Needed
In 2013, the industry continued its push to lease sensitive landscapes in the West for oil and gas
development, including in the following instances:
In Colorado, the industry nominated over 5,000 acres that border an entrance road to DinosaurNational Monument. Those lands also contain wilderness values and provide an important
scenic backdrop to national monument visitors.
In New Mexico, the industry tried to acquire leases on over 18,000 acres of land surroundingChaco Culture National Historical Park. Drilling rigs could have risen within a quarter-mile of the
national parks boundaries, and a maze of wells, roads and pipelines could have permanently
transformed the landscape surrounding Chaco Canyon, which contains scores of prehistoric
roads, ancient villages and other significant cultural resources.
In Utah, over objections from key members of the outdoor recreation industry, the oil and gasindustry attempted to lease approximately 80,000 acres of lands in the San Rafael
Swell. Historic and cultural resources abound in the Swell, which is also valued by many for its
scenery, recreation opportunities and wilderness characteristics.
And, in Wyoming, the industry attempted to lease several thousand acres of wilderness-qualitylands surrounding the Adobe Town WSA. Those lands contain a wealth of hunting, wildlife and
recreation resources, and although they have been leased in the past, many of the leases are
now expiring.
In all four instances, the BLM made the right choice and deferred the leases. Doing so was fully
consistent with the BLMs 2010 oil and gas leasing reforms, which recognizes that oil and gas leasing is
not always consistent with protection of other important resources and values, including units of the
National Park System and other important areas. However, in spite of the deferrals, the lands in
question remain available for leasing, and the industry could very well renew its effort to obtain leases
in the near future. Thus, the BLM now has the opportunity to reevaluate its management for all four
areas and develop a more thoughtful, landscape-level approach to oil and gas activity. Such anapproach would allow the BLM to avoid future conflicts over leasing, while providing enhanced
protection for the significant wilderness, recreation, wildlife and cultural values that exist in and near
Dinosaur National Monument, Chaco Canyon, San Rafael Swell and Adobe Town.
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Draft Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation Plans Evaluate a Suite of Measures to Protect the
Species
This fall BLM began rolling out draft regional plans for conserving greater sage-grouse across millions of
acres of western public lands. The agency is hoping that it can get strong enough plans in place to stave
off a listing under the Endangered Species Act, a decision which the US Fish and Wildlife Service will
make in 2015. The Service has already declared greater sage-grouse a candidate species for listing
based on the severe decline in sage-grouse populations across the American west in recent decades. The
once-ubiquitous sagebrush sea that provides habitat for sage-grouse (as well as big game and a host of
other species) has been fragmented and destroyed by energy development, including oil and gas, wind
and transmission, and other uses of our western lands.
BLM has released draft plans for
nearly every state that
encompasses greater sage-grouse
habitat for public comment. Thedraft plans evaluate a range of
conservation measures, some of
which would provide strong
protection for the species, but
ultimately fail to propose
management actions that would
put meaningful standards in place
to ensure the birds survival. In
fact, the US Fish and Wildlife
Service wrote in comments on BLMs plan for Colorado that the draft plan falls short of providingnecessary protection to avoid the need for a listing.
To adequately conserve greater sage-grouse across its range, BLM must specifically designate areas for
sage-grouse protection, such as areas of critical environmental concern, and place those areas off-limits
to development. BLM should analyze benefits to sage-grouse from protecting wilderness-quality lands
and designate those areas for sage grouse conservation where it would benefit the species. Some of the
most important sage-grouse habitat in the West exists in unprotected wilderness-quality lands. In the
Little Snake Field Office alone, nearly 300,000 acres of federally recognized primary habitat is
encompassed in potential lands with wilderness characteristics identified by the BLM. In addition to
designating sage-grouse conservation areas, BLM must also mitigate habitat loss and speciesdisplacement in all sage-grouse habitat, and actively manage destructive activities across the species
range.
Pronghorn mingle with sage-grouse in Northwest Colorado
Sasha Nelson
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McCoy Solar Project Mitigation Plan Addresses Impacts to Lands with Wilderness
Characteristics
The McCoy Solar Project was approved to be constructed on approximately 4,600 acres of public lands
in the California Desert Conservation Area. The BLMs environmental impact statement acknowledged
that the project would damage approximately 1,089 acres that the agency had identified as havingwilderness characteristics and proposed a general approach to mitigation. The record of decision
incorporated more specific requirements for removal and restoration of unauthorized vehicle routes,
conversion of routes into a hiking trail, and installation of vehicle barriers and signing along wilderness
boundaries in the nearby Big Maria Mountains Wilderness Area, Palen-McCoy Wilderness Area or other
designated wilderness areas near the project, and set a timeline for completion.
Under the governing Solar Programmatic EIS (PEIS), these lands were not being managed to protect
their wilderness characteristics, but the PEIS did define a suite of potential mitigation measures for
impacts to lands with wilderness characteristics, including acquisition, restoration, management of
adjacent lands, and contribution to a mitigation bank. Our preference is avoiding damage to landswith wilderness characteristics, but where impacts cannot be avoided, we want to see BLM requiring
mitigation. The plan incorporated in the McCoy Solar Project record of decision takes the right approach
and requires meaningful mitigation.
BLM Evaluates Designating Otero Mesa ACEC in Draft Tri-County Plan
We have been working diligently for nearly a decade to protect southern New Mexicos wild desert
grassland, Otero Mesa. Encompassing more than a million acres, Otero Mesa contains one of the largest
desert grasslands remaining in North America as well as a half million acres of potential wilderness. The
grassland is ecologically
significant as habitat for more
than a thousand native
wildlife species and for its
vast freshwater resources, is
home to a rich archaeological
and historical record, and is
treasured by hunters and
other backcountry
recreationists.
But Otero Mesa is under
constant threat from oil and
gas drilling, mining and other
uses that could forever
destroy the grasslands many Otero MesaStephen Capra
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irreplaceable values. In addition to advocating for permanent protection for the grassland, we proposed
the BLM designate an Area of Critical Environmental Concern as part of the ongoing Tri-County Resource
Management Plan.
This spring, the Las Cruces District released a draft Tri-County RMP which would designate an Otero
Mesa Grasslands ACEC in two alternatives, including the preferred alternative. We were elated to seeBLM recognize the special values of Otero Mesa and propose protective management for those values.
However, the ACEC which would be designated under the preferred alternative is much smaller than the
conservation alternative and than we originally proposed, and drops important protective management
measures such as closure to new transmission lines and other rights-of-way and recommended mineral
withdrawal. Furthermore, the draft RMP did not address oil and gas management and therefore the
ACEC would not be closed to oil and gas leasing under any alternative in the draft RMP.
We pushed BLM to go back to the drawing board on this one, and in December the agency announced a
supplement to the draft RMP will be prepared to address oil and gas management and lands with
wilderness characteristics. Were glad BLM is moving forward with a supplement, and we also hope BLM
will ultimately adopt an ACEC for Otero Mesa that encompasses the full landscape so as to protect all of
the grasslands outstanding values and puts robust management in place including closures to oil and
gas leasing, renewable energy development and transmission, and recommended mineral withdrawal.