Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the Department of the Interior adhered to federal law in its decision to vastly expand energy development on wildlife-rich public lands located on southwestern Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership announced today.

The TRCP suit, filed in 2008, contended that the Bureau of Land Management failed to implement “adaptive environmental management” and mitigation activities as committed to in decision documents for the Pinedale Anticline natural gas project, which comprises crucial winter range for one of the state’s largest mule deer populations and prime sage grouse habitat in the Upper Green River Basin. Mule deer numbers have declined by more than half in the project area in the decade since development began.

The court ruled that the BLM properly considered a reasonable range of alternatives in the 2008 record of decision, or ROD, for the project, even though it did not consider an alternative that would restore wildlife to levels consistent with the initial ROD, released in 2000. The court further found BLM’s prior commitments could not be enforced because the new 2008 ROD superseded those commitments and BLM was entitled to a presumption that it would implement the 2008 ROD to ensure against unnecessary and undue degradation.

“Essentially, federal law allows the Bureau of Land Management to permit expanded energy development even in the face of declining wildlife populations. If this is the law, then law needs to be changed,” said TRCP President and CEO Whit Fosburgh. “Mule deer populations in the area have declined precipitously since development began in 2000 and since the 2008 ROD. No one disputes this fact. These losses are unacceptable to sportsmen and should outrage anyone who cares about the conscientious administration of fish, wildlife and public lands.”

In its ruling, the court also found that the agency fully considered the impact of the project on hunting in the region and that the mitigation measures adopted by BLM on balance would comply with BLM’s duties under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The TRCP maintains that BLM decisions regarding development in the anticline consistently ignore current science about the impacts of natural gas projects on mule deer and a host of other species important to sportsmen.

“As defined by the court, the bottom line in the Pinedale Anticline natural gas project is that the federal government has the discretion to take whatever action it deems appropriate, even at the expense of responsible fish and wildlife management, the interests of citizens, including hunters and anglers, and in conflict with the multiple-use approach the BLM is legally bound to uphold,” said Dr. Rollin Sparrowe, TRCP board member and past leader of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group Wildlife Task Group. “This is unacceptable.

“If the BLM can oversee oil and gas development on our public lands with little or no regard to fish and wildlife populations,” continued Sparrowe, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who lives near the project site, “then the public needs stronger laws or regulations to protect our valuable and shared natural resources. The TRCP remains committed to ensuring that responsive policy measures addressing these deficiencies are enacted.

“The mule deer population on the Pinedale Anticline is the most intensively studied herd in the American West being affected by unusually intensive gas development,” Sparrowe stated. “Ten years of research and monitoring indicate a negative downward trend and an overall decline of close to 60 percent – a number that was confirmed before the documented die-offs from last year’s severe winter. Losses are expected to increase even further this year. Data also show that surrounding mule deer herds not affected as much by gas drilling all are in better condition. Further declines will occur as the rest of the drilling moves into new, important habitats. The unique negative influence on this Mesa Herd is winter drilling, which proves without a doubt that such drilling is incompatible with sustaining a wintering deer herd.”

“The TRCP is in favor of sustainable energy development on public lands, but the project on the Pinedale Anticline clearly is degrading wildlife and hunting opportunities,” concluded Fosburgh. “The real tragedy in Pinedale is that energy development could have been accomplished without these huge losses in mule deer and other wildlife – but the BLM and the drillers insisted on a pace of development that turned our public lands into an industrial zone and hammered a once-iconic mule deer herd, likely past the point of recovery. American citizens, whether or not they ever will hunt in southwestern Wyoming, must live with the disastrous results of the Pinedale debacle for generations to come.”

The TRCP supports responsible public-lands energy development that is pursued in accordance with federal law and ensures citizens’ continued ability to access our lands and natural resources.

Learn more about the TRCP’s work in support of responsible energy development.

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.

NRA - ILA

FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- In a major legal victory, a federal judge has ruled in favor of the National Rifle Association and the federal Bureau of Land Management, throwing a lawsuit filed by an environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), out of U.S. District Court in Phoenix, Ariz.

The case is Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Safari Club International had joined the case as a “friend of the court” and assisted NRA with its successful efforts.

CBD’s lawsuit, filed on Jan. 27, 2009, alleged that the BLM and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were illegally mismanaging federal lands in Arizona. The lawsuit challenged the allowance of off road vehicles, construction of roads, inadequate protection of desert tortoises, and inadequate protection of California condors.

Among other things, the suit sought to force BLM to ban the use of lead ammunition for hunting in the Arizona Strip, a rugged area in the northwest corner of the state renowned for great hunting. CBD contended California condors in Arizona and elsewhere were being poisoned from scavenging game that was shot by hunters using lead shot or bullets. But the record plainly shows that California condors were reintroduced to this area of Arizona based on express promises by FWS and other agencies that the reintroduction would not affect hunting.

Among other things, the Court ruled that CBD had waived its claims concerning BLM’s failure to assess the alleged impact of lead ammunition on condors because “[i]t did not argue that BLM was required to include the potential effects of lead ammunition in [BLM's] analysis of environmental impacts.”

Even before the ruling, NRA’s intervention in the case on behalf of its members had already resulted in several legal victories.

A Jan. 13, 2010 court ruling granting NRA’s motion to intervene was recently published in the official Federal Rules Decision Reporter. The Federal Rules Decisions Reporter is a compendium of selected United States district court rulings that specifically interpret and apply the Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure.

Publication of this court ruling is important to hunters and NRA members because it sets legal precedent by confirming that there is a “significantly protectable interest” in hunting that can justify intervention by hunter’s rights groups like NRA in the increasing number of lawsuits filed by so-called environmental groups against state and federal natural resource, game and land management agencies.

To see key documents filed in this case, visit http://michellawyers.com/cbdvblm.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

Arizona Citizens Defense League

Catalina, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- President 0bama promised that he was going to implement efforts to erase your right to bear arms “under the radar.”

Now, he’s brought the fight to Arizona.

Using the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the 0bama administration has proposed banning recreational shooting in the half-million acres of Sonoran Desert National Monument.

BLM has released proposed plans for the future management of nearly 1.4 million acres located southwest of Phoenix, in parts of Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, Gila and Yuma Counties.

Of that total, over 486,000 acres are within the Sonoran Desert National Monument. The proposals can be found at: http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/planning/son_des.html .

Two of the possible alternatives (“D” and “E”) propose closing the area to recreational shooters.

Presently, some 63 sites in the national monument are used by recreational shooters. The proposed plans also address other issues of importance to shooters and hunters, including the designation of roads and trails for motorized vehicles and areas that could be managed as wilderness.

If you ride, hike, hunt or shoot in the Sonoran Desert National Monument, you need to get involved in this planning process!

The public comment period is open through November 25.
Instructions for making comments can be found at: http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/planning/son_des.html .
Comments can be faxed or mailed to BLM, Phoenix District Office.

At the BLM website (http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/planning/son_des.html) you will also find a series of public BLM meetings, being held in October, to discuss the proposal to ban recreational shooting in the Sonoran Desert National Monument. Meetings will be held in Phoenix, Mesa, Casa Grande, Buckeye, Gila Bend and Ajo. We urge you to attend as many of these meetings as possible.

This is not the first time that the BLM has attempted to close an entire national monument to shooters, making no attempt to provide places for and access to shooting sites. The Ironwood National Monument shooting ban was defeated because of the outcry from concerned citizens (you!).

Together, we can defeat the 0bama administration’s proposed Sonoran Desert National Monument shooting ban!

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization: www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html .

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html .

About:
AzCDL believes that the emphasis of gun laws should be on criminal misuse and that law-abiding citizens should be able to own and carry firearms unaffected by unnecessary laws or regulations. AzCDL was founded by a group of local activists who recognized that a sustained, coordinated, statewide effort was critical to protecting and expanding the rights of law-abiding gun owners. As a like-minded coalition of activists, the AzCDL founders were instrumental in the successful passage of the first major improvement to Arizona’s CCW (concealed carry) laws since they were instituted in 1994. Visit: www.azcdl.org

Boone and Crockett Club

MISSOULA, Mont.--(Ammoland.com)- MISSOULA, Mont.–Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, today introduced legislation –the “Making Public Lands Public Access Act of 2011″– that guarantees funding for improving hunter access to existing public lands.

This bipartisan legislation is supported by the Boone and Crockett Club, the National Rifle Association and other hunting organizations.

The bill directs the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to acquire rights of way and other land interests from willing-seller landowners to open access to existing public lands where public access for hunting and fishing is closed.

“Sportsmen and women want the Forest Service and BLM to provide better access to our national forests and BLM lands for hunting and fishing. Senator Jon Tester and Senator Jim Risch are tackling this problem head on with this bill,” said Ben Wallace, president of the Boone and Crockett Club.

Additionally, Wallace praised Tester and Risch for “their deep commitment to enhancing hunting opportunities on our public lands.” Tester is the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus within the U.S. Senate. Risch is the vice co-chair of the same caucus.

For the 32 million American hunters, anglers and recreational shooters, federal public lands are an increasingly vital to their participation in outdoor sports. Nearly half of all hunters, for example, conduct a portion of their hunting activity on public lands. Reduced access is cited as a primary reason that hunters, anglers and target shooters stop participating in these traditional sports. A 2004 report to the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations concluded that more than 35 million acres of U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land have inadequate access.

Specifically, nearly 2 million acres (or 10 percent) of USFS lands in Montana and 8.4 million acres (or 29 percent) of BLM lands in the Montana/Dakota’s region were identified as having inadequate access.

Sportsmen and women make important contributions to both wildlife conservation and the nation’s economy. The hunting and shooting sports industries create over 160,000 full-time jobs nationwide, generating an economic benefit of over $20 billion annually.

About the Boone and Crockett Club
Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club promotes guardianship and visionary management of big game and associated wildlife in North America. The Club maintains the highest standards of fair-chase sportsmanship and habitat stewardship. Member accomplishments include enlarging and protecting Yellowstone and establishing Glacier and Denali national parks, founding the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System, fostering the Pittman-Robertson and Lacey Acts, creating the Federal Duck Stamp program, and developing the cornerstones of modern game laws. The Boone and Crockett Club is headquartered in Missoula, Mont. For details, visit www.boone-crockett.org.

Outdoor Industry Association

Boulder, CO. --(Ammoland.com)- Citing the need for balance in federal land management and the role public and wild lands play in supporting jobs across the American economy, The Conservation Alliance (Alliance), Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) and companies they represent sent a letter to members of the House Natural Resources Committee supporting the Bureau of Land Management’s new wild lands policy.

“Proper management of wilderness-quality lands and congressionally-designated Wilderness signals our national commitment to conservation of our public lands, clean waters, healthy wildlife, and cultural and historical landscapes,” the industry said in backing the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Secretarial Order 3310.

“The outdoor industry depends on a full spectrum of public lands and waters to provide places for our customers to use the products we make and sell. Outdoor recreation contributes $730 billion annually to the U.S. economy, and supports nearly 6.5 million jobs across our country. Ensuring that some of our BLM lands are preserved for recreation and habitat is an investment in our economic future and the quality of life in communities,” stated the letter signed by the Alliance, OIA and 19 leading outdoor companies.

“Secretary Salazar’s order ensures Western communities have the opportunity to choose a balanced economic approach. Active outdoor recreation generates $289 billion in annual retail sales and supports sustainable, domestic jobs in every American community – rural and urban, said Frank Hugelmeyer, President of OIA. “Jobs vs. conservation is yesterday’s logic. The recreation economy balances boom and bust cycles of extractive industries,” Hugelmeyer said.

“Conservation is an investment in the future of the outdoor industry,” said John Sterling, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance. “Secretary Salazar’s order requires that the BLM preserve the wilderness characteristics on some of its lands; the same lands where outdoor customers recreate using the products our members make and sell.”

The Conservation Alliance
The Conservation Alliance is an organization of outdoor businesses whose collective contributions support grassroots environmental organizations and their efforts to protect wild places where outdoor enthusiasts recreate. Alliance funds have played a key role in protecting rivers, trails, wildlands and climbing areas. Membership in the Alliance is open to companies representing all aspects of the outdoor industry, including manufacturers, retailers, publishers, mills and sales representatives. The result is a diverse group of businesses whose livelihood depends on protecting our natural environment.

Outdoor Industry Association
Outdoor Industry Association® is a national trade association whose mission is to ensure the growth and success of the outdoor industry. OIA provides trade services for manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, sales representatives and retailers in the outdoor industry. OIA provides industry-defining resources and support in government/legislative affairs, market and social research, business-to-business services and youth outreach initiatives

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is appealing a court decision in its suit against the Department of the Interior over the government’s mishandling of a southwestern Wyoming energy development and the resulting impacts to wildlife, the sportsmen’s group announced today.

The TRCP suit, filed in 2008 in U.S. District Court, contends that the BLM failed to implement “adaptive environmental management” and mitigation activities as committed to in decision documents for the Pinedale Anticline natural gas project, which encompasses approximately 200,000 acres of the Upper Green River Basin in Sublette County, Wyo.

Sometimes referred to as an “American Serengeti” because of its seasonal and migratory use by wildlife, the Upper Green River Basin comprises crucial winter range for one of the state’s largest mule deer populations and has been identified by wildlife experts as one of the last, best habitats for sage grouse. A recently released federal report documents declines of 60 percent in mule deer numbers in the project area in the decade since development began, which will have serious repercussions for northern Wyoming Range mule deer hunting.

The TRCP maintains that BLM decisions regarding development in the Pinedale Anticline consistently ignore current science about the impacts of natural gas projects on these and a host of other species and lead to unnecessary impacts to wildlife. Dr. Rollin Sparrowe, TRCP board member and past leader of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group Wildlife Task Group, cited the report as a “prime example” of the federal government’s misguided approach to resource management and evidence of its failure to sustain mule deer numbers in the region.

“Current science, along with lessons learned from past actions, enable us to practice a balanced approach toward management of two world-class resources – wildlife and natural gas – located on the Pinedale Anticline,” said Sparrowe, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and lifelong hunter who lives near the project site. “Yet the government’s failure to implement practices that conserve seasonal habitat for mule deer are furthering this population’s decline.

“Our appeal is rooted in our interest in assuring the responsible development of these energy resources,” continued Sparrowe, “and in our desire to see the BLM address mitigation, monitoring and adaptive management in a way that is both meaningful and effective for species prized by American sportsmen.”

“Why should we care about Pinedale, Wyoming?” said TRCP President and CEO Whit Fosburgh. “In short, because this project, touted as a paragon of public lands energy development, instead exemplifies a broken, out-of-balance management system.

“The court’s ruling essentially states that BLM can concoct a management plan, fail to implement that plan, rewrite the plan, and have the plan affirmed by a federal court, despite its failure to live up to the BLM’s contract with the American people,” Fosburgh said.

“The needs of fish and wildlife – and the interests of sportsmen and other public lands users – remain at the mercy of the BLM and its subjective interpretation of its mission,” Fosburgh concluded. “The nation’s public lands should be held and managed in trust for all Americans and for future generations to use and enjoy; the BLM’s failure to do this in Pinedale is setting a dangerous precedent for management of our shared natural resources.”

The TRCP supports responsible public-lands energy development that is pursued in accordance with federal law and ensures citizens’ continued ability to access our shared lands and natural resources.

• Learn more about the TRCP’s energy work.
• Learn more about the Pinedale Anticline.

About:
Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the tradition of hunting and fishing. Visit: www.trcp.org

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- Following the release of a monitoring report documenting steep declines in mule deer numbers on federal public lands in Wyoming’s Upper Green River Basin, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is renewing calls for urgent action to conserve important seasonal habitat and arrest the dramatic decline of the prized game species.

Winter home to once-legendary populations of mule deer, the Pinedale Anticline in southwestern Wyoming also hosts one of the nation’s largest producing natural gas fields. The report, prepared by Western Ecosystems Technology Inc., documents a 60-percent decline in mule deer since 2000, when energy development on the anticline began in earnest.

Thresholds previously established by the Bureau of Land Management were exceeded in the first year of implementation of a revised Record of Decision, which drastically increased the number of wells allowed and permitted more drilling within typically restricted mule deer crucial winter range.

Yet at a recent meeting held in Pinedale to discuss the report, the BLM resisted making explicit commitments to address the mule deer declines, instead promising to further consider action and respond to public concerns later.

“Sportsmen frankly are outraged that these mule deer losses are not seen by the federal government as ‘severe’ and warranting specific reparative actions,” said Steve Belinda, TRCP director of energy programs and a former BLM biologist. “This lackadaisical response is, in a word, unacceptable, and it continues a string of broken promises by the BLM that were meant to assure responsible management of these public resources.”

“This portion of the Sublette mule deer herd is one of the most studied, documented populations of mule deer in the country, yet the BLM continues to insist that we don’t know enough to change course on actions that affect them,” said Dr. Rollin Sparrowe, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and TRCP board member who lives near the project site. “By labeling its misguided approach ‘adaptive management,’ the BLM is avoiding doing what it must to sustain these animals and fulfill its multiple-use mandate for all resources, not just extraction of energy.

“Less than two years ago, biologists documented losses of 30 percent and changes in mule deer distribution patterns as a result of drilling operations in Pinedale,” continued Sparrowe, past leader of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group Wildlife Task Force. “Thousands of additional wells will be drilled in the anticline over the next decade. What further losses should we expect if corrective action is not taken at this critical moment?”

Read the report from Western Ecosystems Technology Inc.

Mule Deer Monitoring 2010 Annual Report

The TRCP supports responsible energy development balanced with natural resource management to assure sustainable fish and wildlife populations for this and future generations of Americans. Learn more about the TRCP’s energy work.

About:
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. Visit: www.trcp.org

Removal of Backcountry Lands from Colorado Energy Sale Draws Sportsmen’s Praise

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON --(Ammoland.com)- The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today roundly praised a decision by the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw thousands of acres of prime backcountry fish and wildlife habitat in Colorado from an upcoming energy lease sale.

The five proposed leases, totaling 10,364 acres and slated for auction on Nov. 10, are located in national forest roadless areas near Craig and south of Rifle and provide important wintering grounds for elk and mule deer, as well as valuable native trout habitat.

“These prized backcountry lands would have been compromised if development was allowed to proceed as planned,” said TRCP Colorado Field Representative Nick Payne, “and we appreciate the Forest Service’s and Bureau of Land Management’s prompt attention in correcting this problem. As proposed, the leases would have violated the Forest Service’s own rules; their willingness to withdraw them from sale fosters more balanced management in the future.”

While the lands in question are located on national forest land, the BLM manages mineral leasing for all federally administered lands, including national forest roadless areas. If the leases were issued, road building could have potentially been allowed within the Sugarloaf North and Black Mountain roadless areas near Craig and the Battlement Mesa roadless area south of Rifle, thereby violating both the 2001 national roadless rule and an agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state of Colorado.

The state of Colorado and the U.S. Forest Service meanwhile continue to develop the Colorado roadless rule, a plan that could determine the management of 4.4 million acres of roadless areas. The Colorado roadless rule-making process has been dogged by controversy since its inception, with many in the sportsmen’s community criticizing shortcomings in the draft plan that would preclude adequate conservation of backcountry fish and wildlife habitat.

“Colorado’s roadless areas must be conserved at a level that is equal to or stronger than the safeguards afforded by the national roadless rule,” said Joel Webster, associate director of campaigns for the TRCP Center for Western Lands. “While sportsmen are encouraged by the receptiveness of the Forest Service to our recommendations for improvements, the proposed Colorado rule requires additional work before it will satisfactorily conserve core fish and wildlife habitat in the Centennial State.”

“Monday’s decision also did not resolve roughly 70,000 acres of gap leases in roadless areas that have been sold since 2001 and that violate the Forest Service’s own policies meant to safeguard the surface values of roadless areas,” continued Webster. “America’s hunters and anglers remain ready to work with federal decision makers to assure the responsible management of these priceless lands into the future.”

Learn more about the TRCP’s work in support of roadless area conservation.

TRCP Colorado Roadless Report

About:
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. Visit: www.trcp.org

A hunter with his mule deer, taken from public lands in Montana. Changes to federal leasing practices on these lands would benefit fish, wildlife and our sporting traditions. Photo courtesy David Thorstenson.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

Washington, DC --(AmmoLand.com)- In recent years, sportsmen across America have spoken loudly in urging the Bureau of Land Management to pursue energy development on our federal public lands that is balanced with the needs of fish, wildlife and our outdoor traditions.

Unique hunting and angling destinations such as Utah’s Book Cliffs and Wyoming’s Atlantic Rim demand a new and smarter development approach that will safeguard these areas invaluable sporting opportunities.

Now your hard work is paying off. Sportsmen’s voices are being heard in Washington. The Secretary of the Interior recently has announced changes to the way energy resources will be developed on public lands – changes that could better sustain other land uses such as hunting and fishing.

But hunters and anglers must speak up once again to ensure that these changes benefit America’s sporting community and our outdoor heritage.

Take a moment right now to contact Interior Secretary Ken Salazar – urge him to develop a smarter leasing and development process that guarantees the future of hunting and fishing.

About:
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. Visit: www.trcp.org

California Rifle and Pistol Association

Phoenix, Az. --(AmmoLand.com)- As part of NRA’s continuing efforts to protect hunters from special interest groups seeking to eliminate the use of ammunition containing lead projectiles, attorneys for NRA filed paperwork in the United States District Court in Arizona on October 14, 2009 asking the Court to allow NRA to intervene and join in the lawsuit Center for Biological Diversity v. United States Bureau of Land Management et al (3:09-cv-08011-PCT-PGR).

The court could rule on NRA’s intervention request as early as the end of this month.

The lawsuit, filed January 27, 2009 by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), alleges that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (BLM, FWS) are illegally mismanaging federal lands in Arizona because those agencies failed to consider the potential impact on local wildlife resulting from authorizing activities like off-road vehicle use and allowing livestock grazing. CBD’s lawsuit also claims that California condors in Arizona are becoming ill or dying as a result of eating lead in scavenged game shot by hunters using lead shot or bullets, and that BLM and FWS are violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing hunters to use of lead shot and bullets while hunting.

National Rifle Association

NRA has been at the forefront of debunking the so-called “science” behind the theory that lead bullets are responsible for condor illness. NRA most recently worked with experts, researchers, and attorneys in California to defeat proposed state hunting regulations based on the unproven condor/lead bullets link. That success was based in large part on meticulous scientific reports prepared by experts working with NRA that exposed the deficiencies in the science, showing the theoretical link to be rooted in “psuedo-science,” as one California Fish and Game Commissioner described it.

Because of NRA’s previous experience and expertise with this issue in other states, and because there is no guarantee that either BLM or FWS will vigorously challenge the unproven assertions CBD is making about lead-based ammunition, NRA is seeking to intervene in CBD’s lawsuit to protect its members’ interests.

NRA is especially interested in defending against CBD’s lawsuit because California condors were introduced to Arizona based in large part on express promises by FWS, among others, that the reintroduction of condors would not be allowed to impact hunting.

A copy of the Motion to Intervene, CBD’s Opposition, and NRA’s Reply Brief is posted at http://www.calgunlaws.com/ .

About:
The California Rifle and Pistol Association “CRPA,” founded in 1875, is dedicated to defending the rights of law-abiding citizens to responsibly use firearms for self-defense and the defense of their loved ones, for sport, and for all other legal activities. CRPA is the official state association of the National Rifle Association. A California non-profit association, CRPA is independently directed by its own Board of Directors. CRPA’s 65,000 members include law enforcement officers, prosecutors, professionals, firearm experts, the general public, and loving parents. CRPA has always worked to reduce the criminal misuse of firearms and firearms accidents, while actively promoting and organizing the competitive shooting sports and Olympic training programs in California. We are proud to say that many CRPA competitors are among the best in the world.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today took an aggressive step forward in holding the federal government accountable for management commitments it made on a southwestern Wyoming energy project by filing a legal brief in a suit against the Department of the Interior. The sportsmen’s group asserts that the Bureau of Land Management has mishandled adaptive management on the Pinedale Anticline natural gas development project. The TRCP initially filed its lawsuit because the BLM formally adopted and then abandoned adaptive management plans intended to protect a host of species.

At issue in the TRCP suit are commitments made by the BLM to sustain the region’s natural resources through an “adaptive environmental management” process in its authorization in 2000 and a supplemental authorization in 2008 for the Pinedale Anticline project area, which encompasses approximately 200,000 acres of the Green River Basin in Sublette County, Wyo. The project authorized development in a region that supports substantial numbers of sage-grouse and contains crucial winter range for one of the state’s largest mule deer populations. The latter has declined by 30 percent in the project area since development began. These species and other game in the region offer some of Wyoming’s best hunting and fishing opportunities; hunting seasons and recreational use have been reduced due to the impacts from development.

“This lawsuit upholds the interests of sportsmen in Wyoming and across the country,” said Dr. Rollin Sparrowe, a former federal biologist and lifelong hunter who lives near the project site. “Development in the Pinedale Anticline has proceeded without checks that the adaptive management process was intended to provide. Big-game and upland bird populations are suffering, and hunting opportunities are declining. The TRCP supports responsible public-lands energy development that is pursued in accordance with federal law and ensures citizens’ continued ability to access our shared lands and natural resources. Our inaction in Pinedale would allow the ongoing mismanagement of Western lands and the elimination of America’s dearly held outdoor traditions.

“From the project’s beginnings in 2000, the BLM committed itself and industry to processes that it concluded were essential to safeguarding fish and wildlife during development of the Pinedale Anticline,” continued Sparrowe, a TRCP board member and past leader of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group Wildlife Task Group. “The BLM subsequently failed to uphold those commitments and contracts with the American public. But instead of acknowledging the fact, the agency redesigned the project in 2008 and authorized expanded development, forging ahead as though initial commitments never were made and lessening the role of the public in the development of these public lands. This is unacceptable and goes against federal law. The government must be held accountable for promises it makes to the American people.”

The BLM’s failure to implement the adaptive environmental management process began in 2000. The current administration, however, has not yet corrected fundamental problems identified by the TRCP in its suit, which contends that the BLM disregard of this process violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, laws intended to assure responsible management of federal public lands. The suit also states that BLM decisions regarding development in the Pinedale Anticline consistently ignored current science regarding the impacts of energy development on populations of mule deer and sage-grouse.

“Under the 2000 project plan, a body of science was collected for the benefit of wildlife populations but never was employed – neither at that time nor in the 2008 plan,” said TRCP Senior Vice President Tom Franklin. “This decision by the federal government perpetrated a whole host of failed policies to the detriment of wildlife, with the few policies that might have been effective if implemented being dismissed.

“In essence, the BLM ignored peer-reviewed, current science, and its decisions resulted in huge profits for industry – at the public’s expense,” Franklin continued. “Our shared fish and wildlife resources were sold, at great cost to American citizens and our collective outdoor heritage.”

The TRCP initiated its case against the Department of the Interior in U.S. District Court in June 2008, supplementing its complaint in Oct. 2008 to reflect additional claims arising from a new record of decision issued in Sept. 2008. Under the 2008 plan, the modest protections afforded wildlife are undercut by permanent, widespread exceptions to seasonal development restrictions. As demonstrated in the established case record, the limited mitigation measures offered by energy companies cannot effectively alleviate the environmental damage resulting from the increased development.

Oral arguments in the case are expected to commence in spring 2010. The TRCP also is actively pursuing conversations with the Department of the Interior about resolving the case.

The TRCP and its partners believe that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife and the CAST principles.

About:
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.

National Rifle Association

Nevada – -(AmmoLand.com)- Last week, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox, and National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) Senior Vice President Larry Keane joined U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator John Ensign (R-NV), Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons (R), Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid, and Commissioner Tom Collins to dedicate the Clark County Shooting Park (CCSP) in Nevada.

The CCSP is a 3,000-acre park outside of Las Vegas that is devoted entirely to the shooting sports. The park was created by an Act of Congress that transferred land to Clark County from the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The first phase of the 148-acre public shooting facility will be opening to the general public over the next few months, and will include a Shotgun Center, a Public Rifle/Pistol Center, Hunter Education Center, and an Archery Center.

“As the largest shooting park in the world, this state-of-the-art facility represents Nevada’s pride in gun ownership and shooting sports,” said Senator Reid. “In addition to providing a safe place for Nevadans to hone their shooting skills, the park will provide important firearms training and gun safety programs. I am glad to have been a part of securing land and funding for this project and I thank everyone involved with the project for making it a reality.”

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON – -(AmmoLand.com)- Citing a need for more comprehensive upfront planning in crucial wildlife habitat, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today filed an official protest of 26,000 acres of oil and gas leases proposed for federal public lands in Utah. Valuable habitat for mule deer, elk, pronghorn, sage grouse and Gunnison sage grouse is of concern to the sportsmen’s group and spurred its action in the Bureau of Land Management’s Aug. 18 mineral lease sale. Administrative protests are the public’s only means for participating in the leasing of public minerals to private entities.

“Sportsmen support responsibly planned energy development that sustain a range of public-lands uses,” said Joel Webster, associate director of campaigns for the TRCP Center for Western Lands. “Our worry with these Utah leases, however, is that advance planning and adequate stipulations for wildlife and recreational resources have not been established prior to the lands being opened to development. History indicates that after public lands are leased, very little can be done to address the course of subsequent development on other values and uses like wildlife habitats and hunting.”

The TRCP protest includes approximately 9,000 acres of viable pronghorn habitat in Utah’s West Desert region, which is overseen by the BLM’s Fillmore Field Office. Since 2007, the TRCP has been vocal in requesting that the BLM undertake the necessary upfront planning to ensure the area’s responsible energy development and sustain activities such as hunting and fishing. Other leases objected to by the sportsmen are located on mule deer and elk crucial winter range in Utah’s famous Book Cliffs and in Gunnison sage grouse habitat southeast of Moab.

“We find it disheartening to be continually addressing the same issues with the BLM over and over again,” continued Webster. “Models for development exist that would enable the leasing and extraction of these energy reserves in a way that conserves traditional public uses of these lands and the valuable habitat for the critters that inhabit them. The approach currently being taken by the Utah BLM works for neither fish and wildlife nor for balanced public land management. Sportsmen will persevere in attempting to assure the responsible management of these shared resources.”

“The BLM has admitted that it sometimes has neglected to pursue adequate advance planning for fish and wildlife in its drive to open public lands to the energy industry,” said Steve Belinda, associate director of policy and science for the TRCP Center for Western Lands, “and in fact the agency is subjecting other areas in Utah to increased scrutiny – including on-the-ground inspections of proposed lease parcels – in an effort to accurately evaluate their suitability for development. While this represents a step forward, we’d like to see similar attention and level of review instituted as standard operating procedure to avoid conflicts and result in fewer protests.”

The TRCP is actively engaged in promoting a new model for energy development on public lands and waters that safeguards fish and wildlife populations and hunting and fishing traditions. The TRCP and its partners believe that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife and the CAST principles.

About:
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.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today welcomed an announcement by the Utah Bureau of Land Management that valuable public-lands fish and wildlife habitat would receive additional review before being leased for oil and gas development.

The BLM initially offered more than 90,000 acres of public land on 67 parcels in its June 23 lease sale in Utah. The TRCP filed a protest of 31 parcels, comprising 46,000 acres of crucial mule deer, elk and sage grouse habitat where supplementary development conditions could lessen negative effects on wildlife populations. Administrative protests such as these are the public’s only recourse for commenting on the federal leasing process and raising concerns about impacts to resources like fish and wildlife.

“Sportsmen unreservedly support oil and gas production on America’s public lands,” said Joel Webster, TRCP associate director of campaigns, “but responsible administration of these resources demands a consistent approach to leasing and development activities in order to sustain fish and wildlife – and to provide companies wishing to extract energy from our lands and waters an increased level of certainty in their investments and planning.”

In 2007 and 2008, the TRCP protested approximately 2.5 million acres of energy leases in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming after concluding that fish and wildlife resources or hunting and fishing could be significantly affected if the areas were developed as proposed. The TRCP reviewed each proposed lease for management actions or protections for fish and wildlife and protested only those leases that, based on this analysis, could not be managed to sustain these resources during development.

“Neither current science nor the BLM’s multiple-use mandate has been reliably adhered to during the most recent energy boom in the Rocky Mountain West,” concluded Webster. “Consequently, public-lands energy development often is troublingly one-sided, with industry demands superseding the needs of fish and wildlife and the interests of citizens. A new federal approach guiding the development of our shared resources is critical – and its implementation is long overdue.”

The TRCP and its partners believe that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife and the CAST principles.

About:
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.

Gun Owners of America

Washington, DC - -(AmmoLand.com)- Gun owners won a long-fought victory in the U.S. Senate yesterday with the passage of an amendment to repeal the gun ban on National Park Service (NPS) and National Wildlife Refuge System land.

GOA was the driving force behind this amendment and lobbied Senators hard prior to the vote to get the provision passed. The amendment, offered by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 67-29. People can see how their Senators voted on the Coburn amendment by going to: http://capwiz.com/gunowners/issues/votes/?votenum=188&chamber=S&congress=1111

NPS and Wildlife Refuge land is treated differently with regard to gun rights than other federally controlled land. For instance, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allows state and local laws to govern firearms possession. However, carrying firearms on NPS land and Wildlife Refuges is prohibited, even if the state in which the land is located allows carrying firearms.

The only way to legally possess a firearm anywhere on National Park land is by having it unloaded and inaccessible, such as locked up in your trunk.

This has created a patchwork of conflicting regulations. For instance, a Virginia resident who is licensed to carry a concealed firearm can legally carry on the Commonwealth’s roadways, but it is illegal to carry on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a major thoroughfare in Virginia under the jurisdiction of the NPS.

In the waning days of his administration, President Bush partially reversed the ban, but even that half-way measure has been single-handedly negated by an activist judge in Washington, D.C. The Department of Interior has decided not to appeal that ruling, thus leaving the gun ban in place.

The Coburn amendment will treat NPS land and Wildlife Refuges in the same manner as BLM land. The amendment will in no way change or override state, local or federal law, but will simply allow those laws — enacted by legislation, not bureaucrats or judges — to govern firearms possession.

The amendment was attached to a bill, H.R. 627, regulating the credit card industry. The House passed its own version of the bill on April 30 by a vote of 357-70, and the Senate is expected to follow suit this week.

The House bill does not contain the Coburn language, and is substantially different in other respects. Therefore, a House and Senate conference committee will have to iron out the differences between the two bills. President Obama said he wants to sign a bill before Memorial Day.

GOA will alert you once the conferees are appointed, as we need to put the heat on the conference committee to keep the Coburn amendment in the final bill.

Please stay tuned for further updates.

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What’s Your Current GOA Status?

Obviously, we now face years of invigorated attacks on our gun rights. Shutting down gun shows, prohibitions on specific calibers, another semi-auto ban, and the anti-gun extremists’ Holy Grail of mandatory federal licensing and registration of all gun owners — these are just some of the horrors that we already know we’ll have to defeat head-on. Meanwhile, we’ll take every opportunity to go on offense and advance the Second Amendment.

It can’t be done without every single voice being counted. That’s why we are asking you to consider making the commitment of becoming a Gun Owners of America Life Member. By doing so, you put the politicians on notice that neither you nor GOA is going away — that no matter who’s in the White House, there is always going to be a solid wall of resistance.

Now is a perfect time to become a Life Member. And if you aren’t a GOA member at all, isn’t it time you became one?

Please go to http://gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm to upgrade your participation in GOA.

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About:
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue.

GOA was founded in 1975 by Sen. H.L. (Bill) Richardson (now retired). Richardson continues to serve as the Chairman of Gun Owners of America, bringing his many years of political experience to the leadership of GOA. Richardson is also an avid hunter and outdoorsman.

The GOA Board of Directors brings over 100 years of combined knowledge and experience on guns, legislation and politics. GOA’s Board is not satisfied with the “status quo.” Americans have lost some of our precious gun rights and WE WANT THEM BACK! This is why GOA is considered the “no compromise” gun lobby.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON – -(AmmoLand.com)- While promoting responsibly planned energy projects that sustain a range of public-lands uses, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today formally protested leases on more than 86,000 acres of federal lands in Utah, where development as proposed could negatively affect vast expanses of important habitat for game species, as well as hunting and fishing opportunities. A laundry list of fish and wildlife species jeopardized in the March 24 lease sale includes mule deer, elk, pronghorn, waterfowl, sage grouse and Gunnison grouse.

The massive sale constitutes close to 160,000 acres of Utah public lands and encompasses 15,000 acres overseen by the Bureau of Land Management’s Fillmore Field Office, where the agency’s proposal to forgo detailed environmental analysis in opening the region to energy development has drawn criticism from a range of diverse interests. The TRCP recently led a consortium of sportsmen’s groups in objecting to BLM plans to permit leases on more than 4 million acres following only a bare-bones environment assessment that fails to adequately analyze the impacts of drilling on the area’s trout and big-game populations.

“Utah’s federal public lands and their abundant fish and wildlife and hunting and fishing opportunities draw sportsmen from across the country,” said Joel Webster, TRCP’s associate director of campaigns.

Certainly, oil and gas development is an important use of these lands. But any development must be pursued carefully and be subjected to rigorous upfront planning if we’re to continue enjoying our shared natural resources. The leases slated for sale to the energy industry in March currently do not include these critical checks and balances.

Other leases protested by the sportsmen are located in Utah’s popular Book Cliffs big-game hunting unit and in areas northeast of Monticello inhabited by mule deer, elk and Gunnison grouse. Gunnison grouse have suffered a 90-percent loss in historic habitat, and only eight extant populations of the birds remain.

“Current science demonstrates that Gunnison grouse populations are negatively affected by habitat loss and fragmentation, including areas used for breeding, nesting and brood rearing,” Webster continued. “Sportsmen want to see populations of these birds sustained and restored so that they continue to be classified as a game bird instead of ending up on the endangered species list. Oil and gas development as planned, including the protections proposed for the parcels up for sale, will not facilitate recovery of the Gunnison grouse – and it could contribute to the species’ further decline.”

“We have diligently examined energy development on public lands firsthand,” said TRCP Energy Initiative Manager Steve Belinda, “and we have concluded that the federal approach to oil and gas development does not work to sustain fish and wildlife resources at acceptable levels. Furthermore, it limits the range of multiple uses for public lands that our government is legally mandated to uphold.”

Recent events in Utah – the controversial December lease sale, the debacle over environmental analysis currently playing out in the Fillmore Field Office – only confirm that our system is broken. Sportsmen have a stake in fixing it.

“Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar has stated that we need a new, comprehensive energy plan for public lands that upholds our fish and wildlife heritage,” concluded Belinda. “Hunters and anglers wholeheartedly agree. We offer our assistance in crafting this new approach and our support of efforts to more responsibly administer America’s shared natural resources.”

The TRCP believes that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife.

About:
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.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today commended recent federal decisions to moderate public-lands energy development in Utah and Colorado in the face of threats to natural resources. The sportsmen’s coalition reaffirmed that such actions should be pursued as part of a return to the multiple-use principles governing use of public lands.

On Feb. 4, Interior Sec. Ken Salazar withdrew proposed oil and gas leases on more than 100,000 acres of public lands in Utah in order to fully evaluate them. The secretary’s act effectively resolved the controversial sale, which had drawn criticism from a range of interests due to the areas’ valuable fish and wildlife habitat and cultural significance. The TRCP filed an official protest of the Utah sale in December due to concerns about the impacts of proposed energy development on big-game habitat, crucial mule deer winter range, vital sage grouse habitat and Bonneville cutthroat trout streams, as well as hunting and fishing opportunities on these lands.

“American sportsmen are encouraged by the new administration’s willingness to acknowledge the current conflicts over the energy leasing process – and how this process fails to consider science and the concerns of everyday citizens,” said TRCP Energy Initiative Manager Steve Belinda. “We hope these recent actions indicate a more responsive Department of the Interior as it charts a new course for public-lands oil and gas development, and we look forward to continued strong leadership by Sec. Salazar to resolve this challenging issue.”

Yesterday, the U.S. Forest Service directed the BLM to withdraw 67,000 acres of public lands in Colorado from the auction block following objections by state and local governments, as well as conservation groups. In January, the TRCP protested approximately 83,000 of the nearly 100,000 acres offered in the Feb. 12 sale, which included sage grouse habitat, big-game winter range and migration routes, and native trout waters. The Colorado Division of Wildlife and San Miguel and La Plata counties also formally protested the potential sale.

“By no means should we cease leasing minerals altogether, as doing so is central to cultivating our domestic energy reserves,” continued Belinda, a former federal biologist. “But we must revise the system to address current deficiencies. The easily accessed oil and gas has been developed, and federal policy seems not to recognize this. This system does not work for fish and wildlife and fails to uphold the multiple-use approach mandated for public-lands management.”

Just last week, the TRCP led a consortium of prominent angling businesses and groups in opposing areas of Colorado River cutthroat trout habitat included in the February sale as part of a general critique of the overall federal approach to minerals leasing. The proposed leases did not include adequate management actions or safeguards for maintaining cutthroat trout.

“The angling community is concerned that poorly planned oil and gas projects could result in significant loss of the fisheries that rely on those areas,” said Gary Berlin, president of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association. “We are gratified by Sec. Salazar’s decision to have the BLM withdraw these problematic leases in Colorado, and we hope that the federal government continues to pursue actions that will uphold the recreational and economic benefits of responsibly managed public lands.”

“Collaboration between government agencies and among stakeholders – such as we’re seeing occur now in the resolution of the Colorado and Utah leases – signals a promising shift from the status quo,” said TRCP Senior Vice President Tom Franklin. “In the future, controversial issues like these can and should be minimized by open dialogue and careful advance planning.

“Sec. Salazar himself stated that we need a new, comprehensive energy plan for public lands,” concluded Franklin. “Hunters and anglers couldn’t agree more. While we acknowledge the challenges implicit in crafting a new approach to public-lands energy development, we also maintain that only by returning to the underlying principles of multiple use can we hope to achieve the balanced management of our resources that the federal government is charged with overseeing.”

The TRCP believes that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife.

About:
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.

Sportsmen For Responsible Energy

SALT LAKE CITY – A move by the Utah Bureau of Land Management to forgo comprehensive environmental analysis in its management of energy development on 4.7 million acres of federal public lands overseen by the agency’s Fillmore Field Office was criticized in a letter to Utah BLM Director Selma Sierra by numerous state and national sportsmen’s organizations, Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development announced today.

The public lands encompassed by the Fillmore Field Office – the largest BLM field office in the state – include the Deep Creek Mountains in western Utah, home to mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, sage grouse and Bonneville cutthroat trout. The agency’s decision to conduct a bare-bones environmental assessment, or EA, in place of a more detailed environmental impact statement, or EIS, in determining the course of future energy projects could jeopardize sensitive habitat and species that depend on it, the letter charges. Signatories include the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Federation of Fly Fishers, Mule Deer Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Utah Council of Trout Unlimited. Most of the letter’s supporters are members of the SFRED coalition.

“These public lands provide irreplaceable fish and wildlife habitat and sporting opportunities,” said Bob Dibblee, chairman of Utah TU. “Too much is at stake to simply conduct a quick assessment and then rubber-stamp approval of a lease sale in this area. Populations of native Bonneville cutthroat trout in the Deep Creek Mountains are hanging by a thread. Rushing into leases in the region could be what snaps that last thread.”

In addition to valuable fisheries, Utah’s Fillmore Field Office comprises some of the state’s most coveted hunting units. Hunters from both Utah and out of state travel to the area to pursue deer and elk, and sportsmen’s groups assert that energy development must be properly planned if these sporting traditions are to continue.

“The BLM isn’t even maintaining the status quo in regards to planning before leasing on these 4.7 million acres,” said John Gale, a NWF regional representative. “Six other field offices in the state of Utah recently conducted environmental impact statements for oil and gas leasing, yet the Fillmore office is using an analysis that falls way short of the norm. A number of limited big-game hunting units could be at risk if the BLM doesn’t change course now and undertake the proper analysis.”

In late 2008, the BLM offered leases in the Fillmore Field Office and then deferred them in order to complete analysis only after sportsmen’s groups underscored the necessity of adequately assessing the impacts to fish, wildlife and sporting resources.

“The potential impacts of oil and gas leasing and development on the 4.7 million acres managed by the Fillmore office are of a magnitude and scale that inhibits and EA,” the letter continues. “While we recognize that the size of an area is not the sole factor that necessitates an EIS, we do believe that the outcomes of such decisions could significantly affect the management of fish, wildlife, water and recreational resources, thereby meeting the significance requirement that triggers an EIS.”

Don Duff, a retired fisheries biologist and BLM biologist who, nearly 35 years ago, identified isolated populations of Bonneville cutthroat trout in the Deep Creek Mountains and negotiated important agreements with landowners and the Goshute Tribe to restore native trout to the region’s waterways, said the EA findings are inconsistent with the fish and game resources on the ground.

“Deferring these leases in December represents a step forward,” said Duff, a volunteer with TU. “Not completing an EIS would take two steps back. Based on my knowledge of the fisheries resources in the proposed lease area, the FONSI response is just not credible. Proceeding without a full EIS makes no sense – it’s standard procedure throughout the state, both by the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service. The BLM should do the right thing on behalf of the fish and game in these mountains and, of course, the hunters and anglers who come to the Deeps every year.”

On Feb. 4, Interior Sec. Ken Salazar announced the withdrawal of 77 parcels offered in the Dec. 19 sale, which was dogged by controversy due to the sensitive nature of the areas to be leased.

“Overall, American sportsmen support public-lands energy development that is pursued in consideration of current science and the habitat needs of fish and wildlife,” said Joel Webster, a TRCP field representative. “This isn’t a case of having to decide between drilling or not drilling. This is about making sure that the BLM meets its obligation to hunters and anglers by properly evaluating and planning oil and gas leasing in a way that safeguards fish, wildlife and sportsmen’s values.”

Learn more about SFRED.

Read the sportsmen’s letter.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

WASHINGTON – As a new administration takes office in Washington, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today expressed dissatisfaction with federal energy development policies in the Rocky Mountain West by protesting the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to open oil and gas development on valuable fish and wildlife habitat in Wyoming. The sportsmen’s group also called on America’s new leaders to prioritize review and revision of the current mineral leasing process and management of the nation’s public lands.

Of the approximately 173,000 acres comprising the Feb. 3 sale in Wyoming, the TRCP protest encompasses more than 88,000 where energy development as proposed could directly affect crucial big-game winter range, big-game migration routes and vital sage grouse habitat. Roughly 32,000 of the protested acres overlap with sage grouse “core population areas” identified by the state of Wyoming and endorsed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as important in maintaining and enhancing populations of the bird, which presently is being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

In its protest, the TRCP notes that some of the resource management plans governing the areas offered for lease are currently being revised to incorporate recent scientific information and asserts that a decision to issue these leases should be postponed until the plans’ completion. The BLM’s readiness to allow development before finalizing such plans has been cited by the TRCP in past protests. In December, following objections by the sportsmen’s group, the BLM withdrew thousands of acres from energy lease sales in Wyoming and Utah until environmental planning processes were completed.

“The need to finalize management plans prior to allowing drilling for oil and gas should be obvious,” said Dwayne Meadows, a TRCP field representative based in Laramie. “The BLM’s consistent willingness to ignore this step gives one cause to wonder. Is the federal government deliberately attempting to sell leases to the public’s lands without proper review, or is it simply following an ingrained pattern of carelessness in offering them to begin with? One fact remains clear: The policy and process used to lease our federal minerals are fundamentally compromised. Sportsmen look to the new administration for its oversight in remedying them, posthaste.”

Administrative protests such as this one filed by the TRCP are the public’s only recourse for objecting to the federal leasing process and raising concerns about impacts to resources like fish and wildlife. In 2007 and 2008, the TRCP protested approximately 2.5 million acres of energy leases in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming after concluding that fish and wildlife resources or hunting and fishing could be significantly affected if the areas were developed as proposed. (Approximately 4 million acres total were offered for lease during this time.) The TRCP reviewed each proposed lease for management actions or protections for fish and wildlife and protested only those leases that, based on this analysis, could not be managed to sustain these resources during development.

BLM responses to the TRCP’s protests ranged from removing protested parcels and cancelling lease sales – following TRCP objections, the agency withdrew more than a half-million acres from sale and outright cancelled two sales in Montana and Utah – to ignoring the sportsmen’s concerns. In 2007 and 2008 alone, the BLM proceeded to lease approximately 3.4 million acres in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming for development. More than 47 million acres of federal public lands are currently leased to the energy industry. A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office stated that only 6 percent of all federal leases ultimately are developed and only 3 percent of those ever produce payable quantities of oil and gas.

“The TRCP, reflecting the priorities of a majority of sportsmen, supports the responsible cultivation of America’s energy reserves,” said TRCP Energy Initiative Manager Steve Belinda. “Yet energy development on our public lands has become troublingly one-sided, with demands by energy companies frequently superseding the needs of fish and wildlife and the interests of hunters and anglers. Given the number of acres already leased and the fact that most leases are never developed, we question the continued pell-mell approach to leasing, particularly in areas of important habitat.

“The system currently in use by the federal government does not balance energy development with the needs of fish and wildlife populations and our hunting and angling traditions,” continued Belinda, a former federal biologist. “Sportsmen ask our country’s new leaders to use this Wyoming lease sale as a springboard for reviewing and restructuring our country’s energy development policy – and for reaffirming the federal mandate of multiple-use management of our public lands.”

The TRCP believes that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife.

About:
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.