News

Do you care about the future of Bureau of Land Management public lands?

All hunters and anglers should, they offer more than 245 million acres of some of the best hunting and fishing in the nation.

The Bureau of Land Management is beginning the process of updating its national land use planning handbook, used by all BLM land use planners and district managers, to guide its long-term planning decisions. While it may sound unexciting, this process will impact sportsmen’s access, how habitat improvement projects are prioritized and important conservation tools for fish and wildlife. In short, our public lands sporting opportunities are at stake. Sportsmen should be involved.

The BLM has dubbed this process “Planning 2.0” and has hosted public listening sessions in Denver and Sacramento. Help sportsmen make a strong showing by contacting BLM

Suggested talking points for contacting BLM:

I hunt and fish on BLM-managed public lands in the West, and I understand personally the value of these areas for fish and wildlife habitat and hunting and fishing. As a sportsman I ask that you consider the following measures when rewriting the BLM planning regulations:

▪ Priority habitats and migration corridors: Set clear direction for the identification, conservation and restoration of important fish and wildlife habitats and migration corridors.

▪ Landscape level planning: Plan energy developments at the landscape level to ensure that future developments are balanced with the needs of fish and wildlife and outdoor recreation.

▪ Backcountry areas: Create a management tool for the responsible management of intact and undeveloped backcountry areas with high-quality habitats and dispersed hunting and fishing opportunities. This tool should meaningfully conserve intact lands, include a strong active restoration emphasis and maintain important public access.

▪ Travel management: Provide direction that prioritizes the retention and maintenance of roads and trails that are important access points for hunting, fishing and wildlife management. The agency should also make it a priority to conserve important wildlife security areas from fragmentation and the development of new roads.

▪ Multiple use: Recognize that fish and wildlife habitat conservation and outdoor recreation such as hunting and fishing are components of multiple-use management that deserve equal consideration with other uses.

▪ State wildlife agency objectives: Through the BLM’s land use planning handbook, the BLM should specifically support state wildlife agency population and management objectives.

Sportsmen in the West are dependent on publicly accessible, highly functioning BLM public lands. These lands are essential for producing quality big game, sustaining robust fisheries and maximizing maintainable hunting and fishing opportunities. Hunters and anglers are urging the agency to consider important lands and unfragmented habitats – and ways to responsibly administer them to ensure the future of our sporting traditions – as it develops management tools for the future. Planning 2.0 is our opportunity to create a BLM planning approach that directly benefits hunters and anglers and fish and wildlife populations, along with the billions of dollars of annual economic boost provided by public land recreationists.

Take a moment to sign a letter to the BLM. Go to: https://secure3.convio.net/trcp/site/Advocacy;jsessionid=2F0D481700C8B67B7C78226476EFC49A.app332a?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=381&AddInterest=1301