'Wild Lands' Policy Would Allow Limited Development, BLM Chief Says

The Bureau of Land Management will consider allowing limited development in areas designated for wilderness protections, the agency director said in an interview yesterday. "Wild lands" could accommodate rangeland improvements, wildlife-habitat enhancements or mountain biking as long as those activities don't impair wilderness characteristics, BLM Director Bob Abbey said. "As long as it's not impacting the wilderness characteristics out there and wild lands, then that can continue," Abbey told Greenwire after a nearly five-hour hearing on the wilderness policy before the House Natural Resources Committee. While widespread concerns persist in the West that the Obama administration will use the policy to lock up public lands, BLM issued a final guidance Friday that suggests the agency intends to be flexible in its wild lands management. "A wider range of actions and activities may be allowed in Wild Lands than can occur in Wilderness," a BLM manual says. For example, rangeland improvements could include construction of limited fencing or water catchment facilities for ranchers and include limited vehicle use typically banned in designated wilderness areas, Abbey said. Mountain biking is also typically off limits in formal wilderness areas but could be allowed on wild lands, he said...more