{"id":1234,"date":"2011-06-03T22:00:33","date_gmt":"2011-06-03T22:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2011-06-03T22:00:33","modified_gmt":"2011-06-03T22:00:33","slug":"doi-wild-lands-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/doi-wild-lands-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"DOI-Wild-Lands-Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar \u00a0issued a new wild lands policy memorandum on June 1. \u00a0The memorandum follows a Congressional prohibition on April 14 of the use of appropriated funds to implement, administer, or enforce Secretarial Order 3011 during fiscal year 2011. \u00a0The memorandum directs Interior Deputy Secretary Hayes to “work with the BLM and interested parties to develop recommendations regarding the management of BLM lands with wilderness characteristics.” \u00a0 The Memorandum appears below.<\/p>\n

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON<\/p>\n

JUN 0.1 2011\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Memorandum\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

To: Director, Bureau of Land Management<\/p>\n

Secretary~ s~<\/p>\n

From:<\/p>\n

Re: Wilderness Policy<\/p>\n

Congressionally approved wilderness areas are an important part of the conservation assets of the<\/p>\n

United States. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently manages\u00a0221\u00a0wilderness areas<\/p>\n

and 545 wilderness study areas designated by Congress, which comprise approximately<\/p>\n

8.8 percent of the nearly 245 million acres managed by the BLM.<\/p>\n

There is longstanding support for the designation of wilderness areas. A number of proposed<\/p>\n

wilderness designations are pending before the I\u00a012th\u00a0Congress, and other areas are being actively<\/p>\n

considered for additions to the wilderness system. Wilderness areas provide a number of<\/p>\n

benefits, including unique hunting, fishing, and recreational opportunities.<\/p>\n

The BLM maintains an inventory of all lands under its jurisdiction, pursuant to Section\u00a020\u00a0I of<\/p>\n

the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). As these inventories confirm,<\/p>\n

the BLM manages large landscapes that have wilderness characteristics.<\/p>\n

On December\u00a022,2010,\u00a0I issued Secretarial Order\u00a03310\u00a0to address the BLM’s management of<\/p>\n

wilderness resources on lands under its jurisdiction. Under Secretarial Order\u00a03310,\u00a0I ordered<\/p>\n

the BLM to use the public resource management planning process to designate certain lands with<\/p>\n

wilderness characteristics as “Wild Lands.”<\/p>\n

On April 14,\u00a020\u00a0II, the United States Congress passed the Department of Defense and Full-Year<\/p>\n

Continuing Appropriations Act,\u00a0201 1\u00a0(Pub.\u00a0L.\u00a01 12-1 0)(20 1 1\u00a0CR), which includes a provision<\/p>\n

(Section 1769) that prohibits the use of appropriated funds to implement, administer, or enforce<\/p>\n

Secretarial Order\u00a03310\u00a0in Fiscal Year\u00a02011.<\/p>\n

I am confirming today that, pursuant to the\u00a020\u00a0II CR, the BLM will not designate any lands as<\/p>\n

“Wild Lands.”<\/p>\n

As required by law, the BLM will continue to maintain inventories of lands under its jurisdiction,<\/p>\n

including lands with wilderness characteristics. Also, consistent with FLPMA and other<\/p>\n

applicable authorities, the BLM will consider the wilderness characteristics of public lands when<\/p>\n

undertaking its multiple use land use planning and when making project-level decisions. In that<\/p>\n

regard, I am directing Deputy Secretary David Hayes to work with the BLM and interested<\/p>\n

parties to develop recommendations regarding the management of BLM lands with wilderness<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CWF’s view” \u00a0The wild lands policy announced in December 2010 has been popular with wildlife enthusiasts and other outdoor recreationists. \u00a0It would have provided access to public lands in balance with other uses such as oil and gas leasing. \u00a0Even now, some important wildlife habitat is approaching a tipping point due to a combination of factors, including development. \u00a0 The Memorandum notes that the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 requires the BLM to maintain inventories of all of its lands, including wilderness characteristics. \u00a0 It is unclear how BLM will evaluate back country lands with such characteristics when determining uses of such lands (such as for oil and gas leasing)\u00a0as there is now no guidance for such decision making, pending the work that the Memorandum instructs Deputy Secretary Hayes to undertake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar \u00a0issued a new wild lands policy memorandum on June 1. \u00a0The memorandum follows a Congressional prohibition on April 14 of the use of appropriated funds to implement, administer, or enforce Secretarial Order 3011 during fiscal year 2011. \u00a0The memorandum directs Interior Deputy Secretary Hayes to “work with the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"anons"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}