Public Lands Risk

Public Lands Risk

Rick Worthington
Rick Worthington
Farmers and Ranchers along with hunters, miners and federal agencies came to the table and developed the historic agreement that would eliminate the need to list the Sage Grouse as an Endangered species.

This was a gargantuan task, one of the largest collaborative conservation efforts ever undertaken in our country. The process was exhaustive, inclusive and resulted in a historic agreement. Which is why the attempts to undermine this effort by the current administration and more specificly by the BLM, are so maddening.

Terry Riley with the North American Grouse Partnership says the administration should keep the current plan in place.

"A lot of federal agencies, a lot of state agencies, a lot of NGOs, a lot of public citizens, a lot of local communities and businesses all came together to pull these plans together. And making major changes now, after we went through all this work, is just not a very good plan."

There are a couple of concerns Western States Ranchers have with either plan, and it's not about sage grouse, but access to some lands that might otherwise become unavailable for grazing or roads.

The other major concern is over invasive cheatgrass which creates fuel for wildfires.

The B-L-M is accepting public comment on the changes through August 2nd.

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