ROCK SPRINGS – The Bureau of Land Management’s Rock Springs Field Office hosted a meeting Wednesday morning with representatives of groups throughout field office’s jurisdiction to brief them about the upcoming Rock Springs Resource Management Plan.
The meeting was not open to the public. When SweetwaterNOW contacted the Rock Springs Field Office to attend the meeting, SweetwaterNOW was told the meeting was only for cooperating groups defined by the National Environmental Policy Act.
“They’re confidential meetings,” Eric Bingham, the land use director for Sweetwater County said about the BLM’s cooperator meetings.
Bingham said the agencies involved signed a memorandum of understanding with the BLM agreeing not to talk about the content of cooperator meetings. What he can say is the BLM is poised to issue its RMP soon.
According to the BLM, the Rock Springs RMP is expected to be published in the Federal Register by the end of August. Once that occurs, the BLM will publicize the RMP through press releases and digital links to the document.
Speaking during the Sweetwater County GOP debates Tuesday night, Sweetwater County Commission Mary Thoman said she was informed BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning believes residents and local groups will like what the RMP contains. While it’s unknown what exactly the RMP will entail before it is published in the Federal Register, several groups, along with local and state political leaders are watching the BLM closely. The state will likely file a lawsuit against the BLM should the RMP not address issues those political leaders found with its Preferred Alternative B, which focused on conservation. Local leaders viewed that approach as one that would come at the cost of the area’s mineral-based economy. A state task force was established by Governor Mark Gordon’s office to submit comments to the BLM, with the county and many residents and organizations also voicing their concerns about the proposal.
While the BLM’s proposed alternative was panned for being too focused on conservation, the Muley Fanatics Foundation is pointing out that residents do support conservation efforts in some places, such as the Little Mountain area. A survey of 500 Wyoming voters released Wednesday by the MFF shows support for the BLM’s proposed management of the Little Mountain area, which would prioritize conservation efforts for big game and trout species, while giving enhanced access to outdoor recreation, hunting, and fishing activities. The plan would also limit energy development in the area to places where its has already been permitted.
“Wyoming hunters, anglers, and sportsmen and women depend on keeping our state’s public lands protected and open. When it comes to balanced public lands management, the results of this poll make clear that Wyoming voters across state regions and party lines are in support of the Bureau of Land Management’s current management proposal for Greater Little Mountain as the best path forward to conserve our precious mule deer herds and other wildlife species without disrupting existing energy development,” MFF CEO Josh Coursey said. “I also feel that this poll shows that BLM is heading in the right direction on fulfilling a key recommendation of Governor Gordon’s Rock Springs task force, which called on BLM to conserve Greater Little Mountain’s hunting, fishing, and recreational opportunities in a way that’s consistent with its multiple use mission.”
