Protecting the Arctic

 The concept of "multiple use" has always been at the heart of public land management, but over the decades policy has been severely skewed towards development at the expense of conservation. That may change with the announcement this week of new rules for the BLM. The agency manages over 245 million acres, so the rules impact should be significant.

Under the new regulations restoration of public land and water is promoted. onservation goals are integrated into the agency's decision making process utilizing scientific data and indigenous knowledge, while broadening the use of land health standards. The changes intend to conserve healthy public lands to support wildlife, connectivity of habitat, old-growth forests, and ecosystem functioning. In short the new public land rule recognizes conservation on an equal footing with other uses.

melting permafrost forms grid pattern in NAPR

Recognizing the need to rapidly reduce fossil fuel burning significantly, the Biden-Harris government put out-of-bounds the western half (13 million acres) of the National Arctic Petroleum Reserve and the Beaufort Sea (3 million acres) to oil and gas development.  Biden drew intense criticism from environmentalists for approval of the massive Willow Project proposed by ConocoPhillips.  The Project plans 200 wells spread across three drilling pads with associated infrastructure such as roads and pipelines.   The administration considered the approval to be a trade-off for protecting the western portion of the Reserve. Conservationists do not consider the trade-off to be worthwhile.  Predictably the oil industry called the protection decision, "a step in the wrong direction". [photo credit: AP]

The Reserve was created about a century ago to provide the US Navy with an emergency supply of oil. Since the 1970's it has been managed by the Interior Department. It is home to polar bears, caribou, and millions of migrating birds. The rules announced Friday will place restrictions on future leasing and industrial development in areas designated for their wildlife or subsistence values and require BLM to regularly evaluate new areas or bolster protection of existing designations. The Arctic is undergoing rapid change due to global warming [see photo]. As a consequence plants and animals are significantly impacted.