The following opinion piece is a community submission and doesn’t reflect the opinion of TRN Media, which encompasses SweetwaterNOW and The Radio Network.
By Joshua W.D. Coursey, President and CEO of the Muley Fanatic Foundation
Now that a new land use plan has been adopted for the Rock Springs area, Greater Little Mountain (GLM) – the crown jewel of Sweetwater County – finally has the protections it needs and deserves. This is a momentous achievement and one that hunters and anglers worked for years to secure. These efforts are the culmination of years of work and engaging folks from all interests to prioritize this special landscape. I applaud the results that reflect this final product for GLM.
Land use planning is not the easiest task, however, just as managing for multiple-uses is not as easy as it sounds. And I recognize that some feel like the Bureau of Land Management did not strike the right balance of multiple uses in other parts of the Rock Springs area. But having Congress step-in and override the entire Rock Springs plan, as some are now suggesting, would be an incredible disservice to the hunting and angling community of southwestern Wyoming.
It would also create significant uncertainty for everyone who uses public lands around Rock Springs – from trona miners to hunting outfitters to ranchers. That’s because the tool that would be used to nullify the Rock Springs plan – something called the Congressional Review Act – would also block the adoption of any future plan that’s substantially similar to the one that was just approved.
That scenario would lead to widespread confusion and chaos – for our communities, industries, and wildlife – for years to come.
The absence of a land use plan, or ongoing questions about the legality of whatever plan was in place, could mean that hunters wouldn’t know from year to year what conditions to expect in Greater Little Mountain (and other areas around Rock Springs). Ranchers would have a heck of a time figuring out what conditions applied to their grazing allotments. And miners and drillers would undoubtedly face extremely complicated and time-consuming approval processes for their projects.
A better solution would be to focus on implementing – and improving, as needed – the plan that was just completed. And it would keep the people of southwestern Wyoming, including hunters and anglers, miners, and ranchers, at the center of the process. My hope is that others, including Governor Gordon, feel the same way. And that we can agree that after fourteen years of working on the Rock Springs plan (at great expense to taxpayers), we are ready to move forward – not by pursuing an extreme and potentially catastrophic legislative quick-fix – but by working within the collaborative, stakeholder-driven channels that we are all familiar with. That is the Wyoming way and I am confident that it can lead to a solution that works for all of us.