DuBois column

 

How did this happen?

I have previously written about the accomplishments of the Trump Administration. This time we’ll take a look at some of the things that didn’t get done.

Fake Wilderness

Here we find a history of jealousy, chicanery and subterfuge by a federal agency including a big stiff arm to Congress. A little background is necessary to fully contemplate this issue.

In 1976 Congress passed the Federal Land Policy & Management Act (FLPMA).

Section 201 of FLPMA instructs the BLM to inventory the federal lands, and does not mention Wilderness.

Section 202 of FLPMA instructs BLM to conduct land use planning on federal lands utilizing the aforementioned inventory, and nowhere mentions Wilderness.

Section 603 of FLPMA is the part of FLPMA that deals with Wilderness. This Section instructs the BLM to review roadless areas of 5,000 acres or more for their suitability or nonsuitability as Wilderness, with the President making his final recommendations to Congress, as only Congress can designate a Wilderness. FLPMA required this process by the Interior Dept. to be completed in 15 years.

The administrative process was completed with any remaining action requiring Congress to act, or so everyone thought. You see BLM kept right on inventorying and recommending as if the 15-year limit did not exist. A lawsuit ensued and finally, in an out of court settlement, the George W. Bush Administration agreed the Dept. of Interior’s   authority under Section 603 had expired. So that’s it. No more inventorying or recommending areas for Wilderness.

Well no, that is when the BLM jealous bone once again came out of hiding. The BLM has long been jealous of other land management agency’s budgets and programs, especially those of the Forest Service. BLM’ers were very resentful of always being considered a stepchild of natural resource management. Just watch them play copycat to Smokey. The Forest Service had many restrictive land-use designations. The BLM finally convinced Congress to create the National Conservation Lands System, along with the accompanying appropriations. The Forest Service and the National Park Service had national monuments, now BLM has them too. The Forest Service had a centralized system of law enforcement. BLM moved their LEO’s out from under the State Directors and created a national office. The Forest Service had administratively created roadless areas. In fact, it had 58.2 million acres of them, constituting about thirty percent of all Forest Service lands. The poor BLM, however, had…none.  Just imagine the terrible ache in that jealous bone!

Stick with me now. The best (worst?) is yet to come.

Next appears President Obama and his shiny new Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar. In December of 2010, BLM convinces Salazar to issue Secretarial Order 3310, which instructs the BLM to use Section 201 of FLPMA to inventory lands with wilderness characteristics and to use Section 202 of FLPMA to designate them as “Wild Lands”.

Notice the cute little sleight of hand here. Salazar doesn’t challenge or disturb the out of court settlement which dealt with Section 603 of FLPMA, and instead claims the BLM has the same authority to accomplish the same goals under different sections of FLPMA. (One has to wonder here: Why would Congress include Section 603 which specifically directs them to inventory and protect these lands, if BLM already had such authority in Sections 201 and 202?).

In addition to this sleight of hand change in policy, there was the cute way Salazar handled the timing of the change. Recall there was an attempt by Senators Reid and Bingaman to include an Omnibus Public Lands Bill in the budget during the waning hours of that Congress. Salazar held back the policy waiting to see if the bill would pass and when it didn't, he waited till Congress had adjourned and left town to announce his little jewel.

History has demonstrated that tactic was just a little too cute.

The blowback was immediate. The Governors of Utah, Wyoming and Alaska sued to overturn the Secretarial Order. Members of Congress decried the policy as undermining their sole authority to designate Wilderness. Congressional opposition was so bipartisan that they defunded the program in the next budget cycle.

Finally seeing the light, in June of 201l Salazar issued a memorandum stating the BLM will no longer designate “Wild Lands”. The Washington Post article on this was titled Salazar shelves policy to analyze more acres for wilderness protection and the AP story was Obama abandons wilderness plan. So that should be it. This baby was finally put to bed.

Well, no. That jealous bone still must be fed. You see, the BLM is no longer designating “Wilderness Study Areas” under Section 603 of FLPMA, nor are they designating “Wildlands” under Section 202 of FLPMA. No, now they are inventorying and designating “Lands With Wilderness Characteristics” under Sections 201 and 202 of FLPMA.

It does not matter what a court settlement says, it does not matter what the Secretary of Interior says, and it does not matter what a majority in Congress said. The BLM insists on having the ability to administratively designate wilderness-type management on these areas and nobody has been able to stop them.

If you’ve been able to follow me through this labyrinthine policy pathway, you have witnessed how one federal agency can defy Congress, the Courts and their own Cabinet Secretary. They dodge, they misdirect, they play word games and so far, they win.

The Trump Administration had the opportunity to right these wrongs, but failed to do so.

Until next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget that check that cinch.

Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner.blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation

 This column originally appeared in the February issues of The New Mexico Stockman and The Livestock Market Digest.