BLM memo upsets some environment organizations

Environmentalists are pointing to a Bureau of Land Management memo as evidence of their complaints about management plans for national monuments like the Missouri River Breaks, but officials in the agency said it's more of a clarification than a change in policy. The memo, sent out at the end of September, will apply to future land-use plans by emphasizing that the resource and environmental values for which the monument was created are the primary issues driving planning and management of the area, according to Doug Herrema, BLM's management and program analyst for the National Lands Conservation System. "This is not a change of policy," he said. One former member of the BLM's recreation advisory council said the agency went too far in catering to multiple use in the Breaks. But multiple-use advocates argue that they lost too much access and would like to have seen more roads left open to the public...read more