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Department of Interior Undermines Future Wilderness Protections
Introduction The Department of Interior launched a devastating three-pronged attack on BLM wilderness in April of 2003, with announced policy changes in Utah and Alaska that have broad implications for pristine but unprotected public lands throughout the West. These decisions open the door for a broad assault on our public lands that had been previously protected from harmful development. These new policy changes were developed behind closed doors at the highest levels of the Department, to the exclusion of state BLM directors, agency wilderness experts and the public. To counter this brazen and unprecedented threat, the Sierra Club's Public Lands Defense campaign is committed to raising the visibility of these attacks on our natural heritage, educating and mobilizing citizens to get involved in protecting public lands, countering the opposition's propaganda, and increasing support for public land protection. How did we get Wilderness Protections? The Act set forth standards to protect those lands, already owned by the American people, that were "untrammeled by man." They were to be managed "for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness." No roads or structures were to be built. Vehicles and other mechanical equipment were not to be used. The minimum size was set at 5,000 acres, with certain exceptions. Two other laws were subsequently promulgated to require wilderness reviews on our nation's public lands: the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) directed the Bureau of Land Management to inventory its roadless lands for wilderness protection; and the Alaska Lands Act of 1980 which also called for wilderness reviews. FLMPA provided broad authority for the BLM to do ongoing inventory, identify wilderness character, and manage these areas as Wilderness Study Areas until Congress designates these areas as wilderness or releases the areas for other uses. In addition to agency inventories and reviews of BLM lands for wilderness qualities through citizen inventories, the public has the opportunity to provide insights and information on the wilderness suitability of specific lands during development of the management plans. Bush Administration Undermines Years of Authority This sweeping settlement came on the heels of another radical policy change regarding roadbuilding on across public lands. In January, DOI finalized a rule that breathed new life into Revised Statute 2477. This is a loophole in an outdated and repealed statute to grant rights of way across public lands. It opens the door for states and and local governments to obtain road rights-of-way across these lands, thereby damaging their pristine character and ruining their suitability for wilderness protection. BLM Renounces authority to look for wilderness BLM Removed protection from wilderness areas Sutton Mountain, Oregon Containing the same spectacular formations as the adjacent Painted Hills of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Sutton Mountain has both historical and biological resources that need protection. It has a diverse high desert landscape with pronghorn, elk, and deer habitat; old-growth Douglas fir and juniper forests; and special status plants species such as arrow-leaf thelypody and porcupine sedge. Its ancient fossil beds and cultural resources are threatened by looting. As a testament to its unique features, the people of Oregon have been working to get this special area protected for years. Sutton Mountain is part of two draft Wilderness bills - Oregon Wild Campaign and the Oregon Desert Conservation Act - both of which the Sierra Club are sponsors and actively involved. This area is now vulnerable to destructive activities -- such as oil and gas drilling -- that could destroy these spectacular wildlands. The Interior Department oversees over 250 million acres of federal lands administered by the BLM in 12 Western states, including Alaska. This is amazingly beautiful and ecologically diverse land -- deserts, mountains, forests, redrock canyon country, sweeping grasslands, icy peaks and tundra. Of this BLM land, only about 6.5 million acres have been designated as wilderness by Congress. Another 15 million acres have been formally inventoried a designated as Wilderness Study Areas before the 1991 deadline. With the Department of the Interior's new policy, the rest of the BLM lands will not be studied for its wilderness qualities and not then recommended to Congress for protection. The bottom line: wilderness values that could exist on as much as 220 million acres of BLM lands (much of which has obvious and spectacular wilderness qualities) can no longer even be studied, as part of a long-used process that could lead to recommending that Congress designate additional wilderness areas. Stopping Citizens from Inventorying Public Lands The Department's recent actions will prevent the public from having the factual knowledge from BLM inventories and draft land use plans it needs to participate in public meetings and planning processes in a knowledgeable and meaningful way. Wilderness Values are American Values The Bush Administration is threatening years of work by the public trying to protect their special places. Sierra Club members all over the country have put in thousands of hour identifying areas with wilderness qualities on our BLM lands, leading trips, meeting with decision makers, and developing maps and materials. There are current efforts to protect special places ongoing in all states with public land, which is being threatened by an administration run by industry.
For addition information contact jessica.hodge@sierraclub.org.
Top photo courtesy Brent Fent/ Sierra Club collection;
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Over the past year, the Bush Administration has rolled out a series of aggressive attacks on our nation's public lands through administrative rulemaking, policy changes, and lawsuit settlements. The policies seek to maximize mining and drilling, allow unfettered access for roadbuilding and ORV use, and ultimately extinguish any interim protection for hundreds of millions of acres of BLM and National Forest lands across the United States.
A high desert treasure, Sutton Mountain was a 29,536-acre Wilderness Study Area in Central Oregon. It was acquired by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 1986. After completing its survey, BLM recommended Sutton Mountain for future wilderness designation in 1996. 
