The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rock Springs field office released their Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) this week. The agency elected to take a combination of suggested alternatives for their final decision with the Proposed RMP emphasizing protections for wildlife habitat and improved water quality.
Out of the four potential alternatives released in their draft RMP, BLM elected to use management actions from Alternative B that emphasized conservation of resource values with constraints on resource uses, along with Alternative D that explores a management approach that is less restrictive for resource uses than Alternative B.
Many ag groups had called on the BLM to use Alternative C as the preferred alternative since that option would have emphasized resource uses such as grazing and other commodity uses along with energy and mineral development. Alternative C would have also made zero acres fall under Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) while other special designations such as Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) were suggested to stay the same across all alternatives at 227,960 acres.
The BLM did follow that suggestion of WSA’s in their Proposed RMP, however, the agency elected to put 935,135 acres into ACECs, with the Greater Red Creek area having the most at 131,890 acres.
In their definition of ACECs, BLM said, “Pursuant to the FLPMA of 1976, Section 103(a), an ACEC is defined as an area “within public lands where special management attention is required to protect and prevent irreparable damage to important historic, cultural, or scenic values, fish and wildlife resources or other natural systems or processes, or to protect life and safety from natural hazards. While an ACEC may emphasize one or more unique resources, other existing multiple-use management can continue within an ACEC, provided the uses do not impair the values for which the ACEC was established.”
BLM also noted that as part of the RMP planning process, other management areas will be reevaluated to determine if the reasons for which they have received additional management are still present and require continued management attention and if current management is sufficient to protect these values.
Wyoming Woolgrowers Vice President Cat Urbigkit noted on her social media page that the proposal calls for the designation of 12 new ACECs totaling 648,665 acres. She added, “the restrictions on human use of these ACECs is much less than what was proposed last time, but it’s still important to read all the details for each ACEC.”
Urbigkit also pointed out that she believes the final RMP is much better than the draft as the BLM eliminated most terms of utilization levels, stocking rates, prohibiting ADC activities, and the severe penalties.
Elected officials on the other hand voiced their concerns shortly after the BLM published the final revision.
U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) said, “The Rock Springs Resource Management Plan strangles responsible natural resource development. This plan isn’t designed to manage Wyoming’s natural resources. It is designed to suffocate them. While I’m grateful for the efforts of those on the ground in Wyoming who worked to improve the original proposal, the plan unveiled today directly jeopardizes Wyoming’s economy and our way of life.”
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis also said the Biden-Harris Administration is appealing to radical environmentalists.
“The BLM’s recently announced Rock Springs Resource Management Plan is only the latest in a series of land grabs that punishes Wyoming and the entire west. Locking up lands in southwestern Wyoming will deliver a seismic blow to Wyoming’s economy, devastating our communities and further emboldening unelected bureaucrats in Washington to prioritize political pandering over the economic and environmental stability of the region. In brazenly bypassing over a decade’s worth of knowledge from local experts and stakeholders, this administration not only punishes the state of Wyoming but jeopardizes America’s energy independence and our national security,” said Lummis.
In October, Senators Barrasso and Lummis led their colleagues in writing a letter urging BLM to immediately withdraw its misguided Rock Springs Draft Resource Management Plan.
The 438-page Proposed RMP from the BLM will likely draw more reactions and more details will surface in the coming days, so check back here for those updates.
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Northern Ag Network – 2025
