State Land Commissioner ‘recommits’ to protecting wildlife

The State Land Office will expand efforts to include wildlife protections in future infrastructure projects. The office made a series of announcements at the recent Upper Rio Grande Wildlife Corridors Summit related to conservation in future State Land Office projects. “I’m here to recommit not only myself, but the state land office, to being a partner in ensuring that wildlife corridors, wildlife crossings, are part of all of our infrastructure plans, our land management plans, our animal management plans,” State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said at the summit. Howard Gross, assistant commissioner for surface resources at the State Land Office, said during a panel discussion at the summit that the agency’s mission is to optimize revenue generated from state trust lands, but the office also has a responsibility to protect “long-term health of those lands for future generations.” “You might recognize a dichotomy in that mission between revenue generation and conservation. But I prefer to look at it as a yin and yang,” Gross said. Under Garcia Richard’s direction, the office will begin incorporating landscape-level planning into resource management and infrastructure programs moving forward. “Planning at this level is something the land office has not done before,” Gross said, adding that the department will create a new position for a landscape-level planner...MORE

Back in 2010 I posted an item about Gov's Richardson and Ritter signing the Colorado/NM wildlife corridor initiative:

According to the MOU, the states will:

° Identify key habitat connectivity, travel and migration corridors used by elk, deer, pronghorn antelope and bighorn sheep, and, as identified by the two states, other key species of wildlife that migrate across the shared border between the State of Colorado and the State of New Mexico;
° Evaluate and prioritize these corridors, using the best available science, in respect to their importance and identify key habitat connectivity, travel and migration corridors to be further evaluated;
° Consult with and involve the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Tribe, and/or Jicarilla Apache tribal governments when a key habitat connectivity, travel and migration corridor crossing tribal land is identified;
° Map the key habitat connectivity, travel and migration corridors to the greatest extent possible using a mutually agreeable geospatial mapping system and consistent protocols to inform the decision-making processes in both States;
° Identify existing and potential land use changes and other impediments that are limiting, may limit or may eliminate the viability of key wildlife corridors;
° Develop and prioritize strategies that will positively contribute to the protection of key wildlife corridors, consistent with shared conservation objectives;
° Share recommended strategies with land management agencies, counties, municipalities, non-governmental entities, and the public, to inform and guide future decision-making processes.

Notice it will apply to "existing and potential" land use. Basically, if you are an entity that conducts an activity on federal, state or private land that requires a permit, you could be impacted. The general public could also be affected as access could be restricted or totally excluded.

Thanks to the two Governors Bill, you just got slapped by Santa.

By the way, this whole thing has been a project of the Western Governor's Association since 2007. To see what your illustrious leaders are doing for you, both Republican & Democrat, see their Wildlife Corridors and Crucial Habitat Initiative.

I had previously posted about the MOU between the WGA, USDI & USDA here. I had also previously posted Groups Pushing For For A Joint Secretaral Order: Wildlife Corridors. Who was pushing for this? Certain staffers in the WGA and "American Wildlands, Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC), Center for Native Ecosystems, Conservation Northwest, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense Fund, Freedom to Roam, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, Sierra Club, Sonoran Institute, The Wilderness Society, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Western Environmental Law Center, Western Wildlife Conservancy, Wildlands Network, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative."

This is a mapping project, pure and simple (with each state wanting $1 million dollars for their "Decision Support System"), and the maps will be used to influence land use decisions.

Interestingly, the current NM map for "Sensitive" habitat shows that 95%+ of it is south of Santa Fe. When it comes to wildlife habitat, Santa appears to be more interested in the South Pole than the North Pole. I'm sure that was caused by "climate change".

What Santa doesn't realize is that when all these projects are completed both he and his sleigh will be excluded from these areas and not even Rudolph will be able to save him.

Then in Feb. of 2018, Interior Sec. Zinke signed Sec. Order 3362, about which I wrote:

The order calls for "prioritizing active habitat management." That would mean such  management or projects would have priority over other uses or projects, such as livestock grazing. The order also says it is "crucial that the Department take action to harmonize state fish and game management and Federal land management of big-game winter range and corridors." It will be interesting to see who "harmonizes" who. We know what that has resulted in historically.  Also note the order assumes Zinke's reorganization plan is finalized including management based on regions.             

And finally, this Spring the NCBA wised up and is supporting an effort to rescind Sec. Order 3362:

The 121-year-old National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says stockmen and women haven’t been considered in the program spawned by former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s Secretarial Order 3362. The year-old order seeks to improve habitat in Western big game migration routes and winter ranges and directs federal agencies to act accordingly. Elements of Zine’s wildlife migration declaration “typically result in inappropriate restrictions on grazing and ranching activities,” the beef trade group’s resolution reads. The cumulative result is “prioritization of big-game habitat conservation and restoration,” and “inappropriate impacts to adjacent private lands.”