The BLM's prime directive has always been to facilitate grazing and support mineral, oil, and gas extraction. It has not been the BLM's priority to maintain ecosystems. Almost all BLM land is divided into grazing allotments and it has allowed overgrazing. Now, with the new BLM Public Lands Rule, it will make conservation and ecosystem health important too. In theory, it will be just as important of a use of the land as the various extractive uses are. Some places can now be left to wildlife, can be for the protection of biodiversity, and can provide ecosystem services e.g., clean air and water. The hard part will be how the BLM will choose from competing uses of the land, which one will win out.
The BLM has wilderness areas that are strongly protected, but it has some designations that provide medium levels of protection. One medium level of protection is the Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). ACECs have special management objectives that protect the resource that the ACEC was designated for e.g., special cultural resources, an endangered species, historical importance, etc. There are several extractive projects that have been proposed in ACECs. One is Conglomerate Mesa. Will the BLM allow vehicle traffic and the nine drill pads that K2 Gold has proposed in the part of the mesa that is in an ACEC when it could destroy the resource the ACEC is protecting? Another example is at Little Cactus or McCloud Flat. Will the BLM allow a pumped storage project there when it would destroy hundreds of healthy Joshua Trees and take away habitat of the endangered Mojave Ground Squirrel? The Mojave Ground Squirrel and Joshua trees are state listed, but not federally listed, but they are in an ACEC to project them. Will the BLM still allow these projects to go forward now that we have this new rule? If so, maybe it will allow the BLM to impose stronger mitigations or require a higher level of reclamation. Time will tell. In any case, it is a significant shift in priorities that is better for the environment.
If you want to help, tell you congressional representatives that you support the BLM Public Lands Rule because there are proponents in the extractive industries that want it to go away.
Click here for more information about the new rule.
By Lynn Boulton
