With the political race underway, one group has taken a hard look at land management objectives on federal lands. In response, this group prepared a list of the top ten ways to improve federal land management in an open letter to the United States Presidential Candidates. In summary, top ten items include:
- Retain federal ownership of most federal lands, but with significant changes.
- Enhance the National Park System by converting some of the existing National Monuments to Park status with approval of the applicable State.
- Adopt and implement State sage grouse management plans, and withdraw BLM and USFS land use and forest planning as related to sage grouse.
- Manage wild horses and burros to achieve “appropriate management levels” (AML) within 4 years with priority timing on sage grouse breeding, late-brood rearing, and winter habitat areas.
- Repeal (or amend) the Antiquities Act of 1906, to negate the ability of the President to unilaterally establish National Monuments without the approval of Congress.
- Release Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) within 4 years unless Congress approves to establish the same (in whole or in part) to Wilderness status.
- Retain, but amend, the Equal Access to Justice Act, and similar fee-shifting statutes.
- Amend the Endangered Species Act to more precisely defining the terms “species,” “endangered species,” and “threatened species.”
- Amend the Administrative Procedure Act to provide litigants a meaningful opportunity for participation and for judicial review.
- Consolidate administration of the public lands and national forest system lands into one federal land management agency.
Click here for a full copy of this open letter. Open Letter to Presidential Candidates — Top Ten Ways to Improve Federal Land Management in the West
- The positions expressed in the letter are those of the individual signatory and do not intend to express the positions of the firm/business or its clients/customers to which the signatory is associated/employed.
