If you submitted a letter to the BLM regarding the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan (RMP) during last year’s public comment period, or formally engaged in the RMP process, then you are eligible to submit a protest on the recently released proposed RMP. While we are generally very excited with protections proposed for the Northern Red Desert and Big Sandy Foothills, there are a few decisions we are very disappointed in. Below is a list of decisions we have identified for protest. See below for our rationale and suggestions for your own letter of protest.
BLM Decision: Cedar Canyon ACEC will not be retained.
Protest: Retain Cedar Canyon ACEC, with closures to new fluid mineral leasing, new right-of-way permits, and other forms of disruptive activities.
Protest Rationale: Cedar Canyon holds immense interest for Tribal nations and local communities. The proposed protections under rock art management are significantly less than those provided by the existing ACEC designation. For Tribal Nations and local communities, the landscape surrounding a rock art panel is as significant as the panel itself and thus should be protected as has been done under the existing ACEC designation. Though it is located within the checkerboard, the BLM fails to demonstrate how this hampers their ability to manage this site as the BLM has been doing for decades. Furthermore, retention of this ACEC was supported by the Governor’s Taskforce, thus demonstrating support across a broad array of Wyoming communities and stakeholders.
BLM Decision: Monument Valley Management Area will not be retained nor designated an ACEC.
Protest: Retain Special Management for Monument Valley
Protest Rationale: Monument Valley contains one of the densest areas of archaeological sites within the Field Office, contains unique well-loved geologic structures, boasts significant fossil deposits, and supports high value habitat for numerous species of wildlife, and bolsters wilderness values in the areas that overlap Adobe Town WSA. The BLM has given this area special management for several decades and has failed to demonstrate that it is no longer in need of said management. Rather than remove special management status, the BLM should continue to manage for the unique and important values of this landscape and work closely with other landowners in the checkerboard to ensure this management is effective.
BLM Decision: 9 units containing Lands with Wilderness Characteristics will not be managed to preserve their wilderness values
Protest: Manage identified LWC for their wilderness values.
Protest Rationale: At 63,000 acres, LWCs make up less than 1% of the Field Office; even if you combine that acreage with the 286,000 acres Wilderness study areas, it still does not cross the 1% threshold. These areas, while small, contain a vanishing resource: areas that have retained their wildness. While many of the LWCs within the Field Office are wholly overlapped by a proposed ACEC designation and will benefit from said designation, these ACEC designations only protect portions of the elements of these areas that together give them their wildness. Without specifically managing for wilderness values, those irreplaceable values will be lost. LWCs adjacent to Wilderness Study Areas in particular should be managed for their wilderness values.
BLM Decision: CSU for Fluid Minerals within National Trails Corridor
Protest: Institute NSO for South Pass ACEC and the National Trails Corridor east of Highway 191
Protest Rationale: For decades the area surrounding South Pass Historic Landscape and the adjacent national historic trails, such as the Oregon Trail, has been under No Surface Occupancy (NSO) management. It is puzzling and disheartening to see the BLM repeal these protections and allow for surface disturbance of irreplaceable historic resources under Controlled Surface Use (CSU) management. These portions of South Pass and the surrounding area contain some of the sections of historic trail with the highest level of integrity awarded by the National Park Service and thus, the trails, historic landscape, and their settings should be protected from surface disturbing activities. Furthermore, the Rock Springs Field Office should be consistent with the adjacent Lander BLM Field Office, which includes NSO stipulations within the trail corridor outlined for these historic trails.
BLM Decision: Wind River Front SRMA ROW avoidance instead of exclusion area
Protest: Wind River Front SRMA should be an exclusion area for new right-of-way permits
Protest Rationale: This area contains important calving grounds, big game winter
range recreational opportunities, and much more. Allowing pipelines, transmission lines, solar fields, wind farms, etc. will fragment these critical habitat areas and negatively impact the outdoor recreational experiences–including those of motorized recreationists– of those who intentionally seek out these mountain foothills for the immersion in generally undeveloped, natural landscapes they provide. The Wind River Front SRMA thus should be an exclusion area for new right-of-way permits. Allowing it to be an avoidance area is incompatible with protecting both the natural resource values and recreational values of the area.
Please note, as per BLM regulations, protest letters must include:
a) The name, mailing address, telephone number, and interest of the person filing the protest;
b) A statement of the issue or issues being protested; (see above)
c) A statement of the part or parts of the plan being protested; (see above)
d) A copy of all documents addressing the issue or issues that were submitted during the planning process by the protesting party or an indication of the date the issue or issues were discussed for the record; (in this case, this would be the comments you submitted during the draft comment period Aug 2023-Jan 2024).
e) A concise statement explaining why the State Director’s decision is believed to be wrong. (See above).
Click the link below to submit a protest to the BLM:
https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/13853/570 Click "Participate Now", select the green "File Protest" button and follow the prompts on the screen
Contact information for Governor Gordon's office:
Submit letter to Chief of Staff Drew Perkins via email at: drew.perkins@wyo.gov with the Governor's Policy Advisors cc'd: randall.luthi@wyo.gov and nolan.rap@wyo.gov.
Comments