LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - La Secretaria del Interior, Sally Jewell, impulsó los temas de conservación, el uso equilibrado de tierras públicas, y dio a conocer una orden para evaluar y abordar los efectos del desarrollo antes de que se presenten... todo, dentro del discurso que dirigió este jueves al National Press Club (Club Nacional de Prensa).

Además de usar con insistencia la palabra “Equilibrio” en su discurso, refiriéndose claramente al medio ambiente, la Secretaria Jewell ejerció presión a favor de un fondeo fuerte con recursos suficientes para la conservación en las tierras públicas, y aprovechó para revelar una Orden Secretarial por la que se implementará un plan de moderación que enfrente los impactos del desarrollo de la energía, antes de que sucedan.

Rod Torrez, originario de Los Álamos y perteneciente a la organización hispana HECHO –siglas en inglés de Hispanos que Disfrutan del Campismo y la Cacería al Aire Libre (Hispanics Enjoying Camping and Hunting Outdoors)–, se reunió con la Secretaria Jewell momentos antes de que ella diera su discurso, y se alegró al escucharla decir que la conservación, la rehabilitación y la protección de la tierra deberían tener igualdad de condiciones respecto a otros usos que se dan a las tierras públicas.

“La administración equilibrada de la tierra considera más que sólo el valor económico de los recursos; incluye los valores comunitarios y culturales.”

La Secretaria Jewell lamentó el impacto que tuvo el cierre de tierras públicas decretado por el gobierno federal, el cual tuvo para el país un costo estimado en 80 millones de dólares cada día, así como la pérdida del acceso a refugios nacionales de vida silvestre y a otras tierras públicas en unos 600 lugares.

En su discurso la Secretaria Jewell mencionó los Master Leasing Plans (Planes Maestros de Arrendamiento), los cuales se basan en una idea general para considerar múltiples propuestas de proyectos al mismo tiempo, y cómo afectarían a la tierra y a sus habitantes. A Torrez le agrada ese enfoque.

“Conocemos la tierra y podemos ayudar a encontrar los lugares más adecuados para perforar. Y también podemos identificar lugares que son especiales o importantes, y que los queremos conservar.”

En su discurso Jewell dijo también que si el Congreso no actúa sobre estas propuestas para proteger las tierras públicas –como no lo ha hecho desde 2010–, entonces el Presidente Obama puede usar la autoridad que le confiere la Antiquities Act (Ley de Antigüedades) para asignarles protección como si fueran monumentos nacionales. Torres agrega que su organización, HECHO, lanzó una campaña de difusión animando a la Secretaria Jewell a que se dé a la tarea de conseguir recursos.

Lea las observaciones de la Secretaria Jewell en on.doi.gov/1aLMTbo.


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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.

State and federal agencies are collaborating to increase the use of prescribed fires in the Northwest.

Prescribed fire is the controlled use of burns to minimize the larger risks of wildfires and smoke. It is seen as an increasingly important strategy as wildfire seasons pose greater threats to the Northwest.

Casey Sixkiller, Northwest regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said authorities want to work together to maintain forest habitats.

"Prescribed burn is one of the best tools we have for making our forests more resilient against catastrophic wildfires and they help to manage and target hazardous fuels and make for healthier forests," Sixkiller explained.

Sixkiller pointed out the EPA is involved because wildfire smoke poses risks to people's health. The collaboration is between federal agencies, departments in Oregon and Washington, and tribal governments.

Sixkiller noted the collaboration needed a formal agreement to move forward.

"That is what we've been able to do here with this agreement," Sixkiller emphasized. "To get federal land managers and states and us all in the same room, making sure that we're all on the same page about what success looks like."

Sixkiller added the collaboration has another advantage: It helps drive engagement with communities potentially in the path of prescribed burns.

"They have the confidence that the effort that's gone into planning that activity has been thought out from soup to nuts," Sixkiller acknowledged. "And that they have a seat at the table and are being engaged and their concerns are being addressed as we go forward with that activity."


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