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Advocacy and Issues

Advocacy

The Public Lands Foundation advocates for the management, protection, development and enhancement of the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. We do this through remaining current on public lands issues and policies, and communicating our concerns and recommendations through Position Statements, Letters & Testimony (including comments on rule making activities) and special Publications. We testify before Congress or submit written testimony on budget and policy matters affecting the BLM and the public lands, and respond to media requests.

Examples of issues that the PLF follows include:

PLF Members’ Advocacy Toolkit

We have prepared this advocacy toolkit to assist our members in contacting their Members of Congress on behalf of the PLF on public lands matters of concern to them.

Administrative

  • Annual budget and appropriations
  • BLM employee safety (Bundy)
  • BLM Foundation as established by Congress
  • Bundy and associates: Illegal actions including non-payment of $1 million in overdue grazing fees
  • FOIA implementation at DOI/BLM
  • Land use planning policy and implementation, including proposed “efficiencies”
  • Multiple use/sustained yield mandate under FLPMA
  • National Monuments designation, size and reduction
  • Role of science in the BLM’s land management decisions

Laws, Regulations, Litigation

  • Congressional Review Act
  • Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Reauthorization
  • Great American Outdoors Act implementation
  • Land exchanges and public land disposal through legislation
  • Law and regulation amendments: e.g., FLPMA, NEPA, CWA, ESA, CERCLA, Antiquities Act
  • Law Enforcement: Legislative proposals that would remove law enforcement authorities from the BLM or other federal land management agencies
  • Litigation and court decisions
  • ONSHORE Act (Opportunities for the Nation and States to Harness Onshore Resources for Energy Act)
  • Venting and flaring rules pertaining to oil and gas production

Keeping Public Lands in Public Hands

  • Public land management/ownership transfer initiatives (from Federal to State governments)
  • Public enjoyment of the public lands

On-the-Ground

  • Abandoned mine lands (coal and hard rock) remediation
  • Biological diversity needs and impacts
  • Climate change impacts to and from activities on the public lands
  • Coal-bed methane impacts (primarily in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming)
  • Illegal immigration impacts on the public lands along the Southwest border
  • Invasive species impacts
  • Livestock grazing
  • Recreation, including Off-Highway Vehicle impacts, recreation fees, and recreational shooting
  • Regulation of extractive industries on public lands (e.g., oil, gas, mining)
  • Renewable energy impacts to the public lands
  • Sage-Grouse habitat conservation
  • Small miner fee waiver exemption: ending the program
  • Water rights
  • Wild horses and burros – means to achieve appropriate management levels
  • Wildland fire management and funding