FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Conservation groups are apprehensive over the appointment of William Perry Pendley, a longtime advocate of selling public lands, as acting director of the Bureau of Land Management. The groups want him removed from office.

Pendley, formerly with the conservative Mountain States Legal Foundation, has said he believes the Founding Fathers intended public lands to be sold, and the federal government has a duty to dispose of them. Scott Garlid, conservation director with the Arizona Wildlife Federation, said Pendley's philosophy runs counter to the BLM's longtime mission "to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of public lands."

"That organization's charter by definition is really broad, really balanced and inclusive of all kinds of multi-use,” Garlid said. “So, you contrast that with Pendley's perspective, which is really narrow and exploitative, where he just wants to auction things off to the highest bidder, and it's kind of a non sequitur."

Pendley also is on the record saying he doesn't believe in climate change and he opposes national monuments and the Antiquities Act. The National Wildlife Federation is particularly wary of his status as acting director of the agency, as it means he has full control without having undergone a Senate confirmation hearing.

Pendley recently outlined his vision of the BLM's mission, saying, "We drill for oil. We mine coal. We cut trees. We allow ranchers to graze cattle." He did not mention the bureau’s goals of both recreation and conservation uses of public lands.

Garlid said he finds Pendley's comments hard to believe.

"If you really had the perspective that you wanted to extract as much money out of these public lands as you could, you could put any of those up for sale; his own words saying he thinks that we should be selling public lands,” Garlid said. “So, there's no fake news there; it's his words and what he's written."

Garlid said the bottom line is that Pendley is not qualified for the job.

"This isn't the kind of guy you put in front of an organization with a broad and diverse mission - unless, of course, you intentionally want to change the mission of that organization,” he said. “And if that's the case, that needs to be made public. It needs to be transparent, and it's not."

In a recent letter to the chairs of the four Congressional committees that oversee the BLM, the National Wildlife Federation and its state affiliates called for Pendley's immediate removal.

The Bureau of Land Management recently released its final Public Lands Rule, which is set to put conservation on equal footing with other multiple uses taking place on public lands.

The state of Utah has come out in opposition, pointing to the impact it could have on the almost 23 million acres of BLM land in Utah.

Redge Johnson, director of the Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office, said the state supports conservation efforts but called the rule a "solution looking for a problem."

"What we have already put into conservation designations and then what you have for the acts that promote the conservation of the lands, why do you need to level that playing field?" Johnson questioned. "The playing field has more than leveled over the past 40, 50 years with the passage of all these acts."

Johnson contended Utah's lands and wildlife will suffer as a result of the rule and added it'll make mining critical metals used for batteries even more difficult. He and others, like Gov. Spencer Cox, called on the BLM to immediately withdraw the rule and work with stakeholders on more practical solutions.

Conservationists see the rule as a big win for restoring and sustaining public lands for future generations.

Johnson described Utah's public lands a "fire dependent ecosystem," adding fuel loads have accumulated drastically due to over a century's worth of fire suppression. He argued the rule will make executing and continuing vegetation management projects more difficult, including reducing the threats posed by fuel loads.

"One of the biggest contributors we have to carbon dioxide right now are wildfires, at least in the West," Johnson asserted. "Transportation, all the others, yes absolutely. But wildfires are a huge contributing factor to that. One of the best things we could do is reduce the fuel loads on some of these areas to reduce the fire risk and this rule puts that at risk."

The rule also creates the frameworks for "restoration and mitigation leases," which will allow groups to restore public lands or to offset the effects of a particular use. Johnson argued the leases will leave too many loopholes but the BLM said they will not "disturb existing authorizations."


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Conservation groups are rejoicing over the decision Friday by the Biden administration to reject a proposed mining road in Alaska.

The 211-mile Ambler Road would have sliced through the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, severing the migration route for a Western Arctic Caribou herd.

Alex Johnson, interior Alaska director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said it was important for the feds to take a stand in Alaska so mining interests do not start eyeing other national parks.

"This is a very expensive, destructive and just highly speculative project that does not in any way support our clean energy goals as a country," Johnson contended. "And ultimately would permanently threaten the health and well-being of local communities and the tribes."

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski slammed the decision, warning it could limit jobs and tax revenues for Alaska by preventing exploration for minerals she said are important to national security, like copper, cobalt, gallium and germanium.

Jayme Dittmar, a photographer and filmmaker from Fairbanks, said the road would have been very disruptive to the 66 Native American villages along the proposed route.

"That'd be 168 trucks passing through close vicinity to the villages," Dittmar pointed out. "There would be hundreds of bridges built. It would dismantle a subsistence livelihood that's been in place for thousands and thousands of years."

The road was seen as a negative for tourism to the Brooks Range area. According to the Alaska Travel Industry Association, Californians make up 9% of visitors to Alaska.

Arizona conservation groups and sportsmen alike say they're pleased the Bureau of Land Management will now recognize conservation as an integral part of public lands management.

The agency's new rule puts protecting the environment on par with other land-use priorities.

Scott Garlid, executive director of the Arizona Wildlife Federation, said historically the BLM has done what he termed a "pretty good job," not only managing about 12 million acres of public lands in Arizona, but also protecting natural resources.

"They've got a tough job," Garlid acknowledged. "I think this rule helps make their job a little bit easier because it gives them some tools to balance those different demands on the 12 million acres that they manage."

Garlid predicted the rule will raise what he terms "harder-to-quantify conservation values" to the same level of importance as more extractive land uses like oil and gas exploration and mining. He thinks most Arizonans will recognize the new rule as a positive. A solid majority of Arizona voters across party lines say they are conservationists and use public lands for recreation.

To Garlid, the rule makes it clear the BLM is recognizing certain parts of federal lands, in Arizona and around the West, have been degraded. He contended restoration leases will be a good tool, allowing the BLM to lease acres to groups specifically to improve the conditions on a given landscape. He noted opponents of the new rule might see the leases as a way to "lock up" land but he argued it is not true.

"One example could be a nonprofit, like the Arizona Wildlife Federation," Garlid pointed out. "We could get a conservation lease from the Bureau of Land Management to do riparian restoration work, or work to remove invasive species along a creek bank."

According to the BLM, while a restoration or mitigation lease is in place, casual uses of the leased lands like recreation, hunting, fishing and research activities would generally continue.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.