Conservation Groups Applaud Release of BLM Climate Study and Urge Agency to Put Lessons to Immediate Use | WPN World People News

A long-awaited study on the impacts of climate change on the Colorado Plateau has been released, and conservationists are calling on the Bureau of Land Management to begin using this data in their public lands management decisions. Earthjustice and The Wilderness Society urge the agency to take into account broad changes in climatic conditions, water availability, wildlife habitat and other impacts to land as part of planning processes that underway throughout the plateau.

The Colorado River. Studies predict that the Colorado Plateau will bear the brunt of climate change with impacts more severe than in other parts of the country.

“We hope that the BLM’s climate study marks a turning point in the agency’s approach to how it manages and protects water resources, wildlife habitat, and our last remaining wild areas as our environment grows hotter and drier,” said Earthjustice’s Heidi McIntosh. “With this new climate study, BLM can no longer ignore the need to manage and protect large undeveloped expanses of public land, important wildlife habitat and the water resources that are now degraded by oil and gas development, off-road vehicle use and other activities.”

BLM’s study, the Colorado Plateau Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (REA), is a compilation of information and analyses of current and future conditions across the region. Importantly, the REA will enable BLM to identify and prioritize the most valuable places and resources to protect and determine which human activities are the most destructive as the climate continues to put stress on nature’s ability to adapt to changes.

The REA will also support BLM’s move to a “landscape approach” to planning and land management, a departure from BLM’s traditional methods which focused narrowly on specific projects like drilling proposals, or on smaller planning areas, without examining how its decisions affected adjacent lands, including those managed by other state and federal agencies.

“Climate change is impacting our wild places, and how we care for these places in the short term will have lasting impacts for generations,” said Phil Hanceford at The Wilderness Society. “This study cannot be put on a shelf. Instead, the BLM should use this information to make better decisions about conserving our last remaining wild places while allowing for development activities where it will not affect our unspoiled lands and water resources that are already stretched far too thin.”

source: Earthjustice