News for Immediate Release
May 6, 2008

Contact:
Steve Belinda, 307-231-3128, sbelinda@trcp.org

Wyoming Governor Criticizes Public Land Management Plan

Freudenthal calls the proposed plan for Pinedale BLM "unacceptable," cites improved stakeholder involvement, balancing natural resources as key to project's future

PINEDALE — Citing a "lack of partnership" and "recurring failures" by the Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal harshly criticized the revised Pinedale Resource Management Plan, a plan that will guide management of BLM administered public lands in Sublette County, Wyo. The area covered by the plan offers important hunting and fishing opportunities and contains world-class fish and wildlife resources along with abundant energy reserves.

The governor's comments convey his profound concern that the BLM "Preliminary Final Environmental Impact Statement" fails to adequately address the impacts of prospective oil and gas development on fish and wildlife populations, including habitat fragmentation, critical winter range and migration routes, as well as air and water quality, socioeconomics in the region and other issues.

"We owe Governor Freudenthal thanks for taking a public position in support of Wyoming's exceptional natural resources," said Dr. Rollin Sparrowe, TRCP board member and longtime wildlife and public lands policy expert. "The BLM plan for the Pinedale region should reflect a true multiple-use approach to managing public lands, including fish and wildlife resources and recreational sporting opportunities for current and future users. Although the public has not had a chance to review the revised plan, the governor's strong statement leads us to believe the plan fails at achieving this balance."

In his assessment of the Pinedale plan, Freudenthal emphasized the lack of coordination between the BLM and stakeholders such as the state of Wyoming and pointed to the BLM failure in fulfilling "the spirit of the lead agency/cooperating agency relationship." The governor also stressed that the information as presented by the BLM often neglects to consider the best available information or best available science — thus absent the "hard look" that the BLM is legally required to give data or circumstances concerning the environmental consequences of its actions.

"Governor Freudenthal has sent a clear, unequivocal message that extraction of our public energy resources must be balanced with responsible management of our natural resources," said TRCP Board Chairman James D. Range. "By demanding that the federal government follow established protocols for involving state agencies and other stakeholders in the planning process, he is ensuring that the needs and best interests of everyday citizens are represented in the final approval."

The planning document will guide BLM resource management policy in the region for the next 20-25 years. The current draft follows an outspoken public response to the first draft plan, released in December 2006.

"Sportsmen wholeheartedly support the governor's assertion that ‘the stakes are too high and the potential impacts too great for this process to be shortchanged,'" concluded Range. "We have the science, the experience and the know-how to develop a balanced plan for management of our public lands, and we agree — anything less than that is unacceptable."

The TRCP believes that to better balance the needs of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies should incorporate the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife at all levels of energy development on public lands, including the Resource Management Planning stage.

Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.