Federal management of natural landscapes

Re “Middle of Nowhere is a Center of Conflict,” April 19

One critical issue was neglected in the article: Ongoing livestock grazing degrades the very objects the monuments were designated to protect. Livestock grazing damages the habitat of the desert tortoise and other wildlife, tramples cultural artifacts, harms native plant communities and spreads invasive vegetation. On the Arizona Strip and on Arizona’s national monuments, livestock grazing leaves permanent scars on landscapes that are supposed to receive special protection. Springs, seeps and wetlands are left vulnerable to the effects of cattle. The Bureau of Land Management’s plan didn’t even consider eliminating livestock grazing.

The BLM states that the new plan strikes a balance between protection and multiple uses, but the scales are tipping in favor of special interests.

GRETA ANDERSON

Director

Range Restoration Program

Center for Biological Diversity

Tucson

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As a participant in the Arizona Strip land-use planning effort, I commend the BLM for its years of hard work. Notwithstanding this fine effort, the agency still has a long way to go.

National monuments are designated primarily for resource conservation purposes. As BLM land-use planning efforts across Arizona have unfolded, a pattern is emerging in which the agency persistently attempts to apply traditional management methods in which the stewardship mandate is conservation, not necessarily multiple use. BLM district manager Scott Florence has recognized that the draft plan needs changes and more details on monument protection. These clarifications are overdue and welcome.

TYLER KOKJOHN

Glendale, Ariz.

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The story about a threatened corner of Arizona highlighted just one of the many historic and natural landscapes in the care of the BLM. Unfortunately, the flawed management plan for Grand Canyon-Parashant and Vermilion Cliffs national monuments typifies how the bureau is shortchanging its finest lands and waters nationwide. To counter the erosion and wholesale loss of the American West, an innovative system of public lands was created in 2000. The National Landscape Conservation System encompasses the bureau’s national monuments and other conservation lands. Although on-the-ground BLM staff members are committed to preserving these hidden treasures, often they are not allowed to manage them effectively. Instead, higher-ups in the administration prioritize expanded off-road vehicle use and oil and gas development at the expense of the scenery, wildlife and archeological sites in the conservation areas. Americans are fortunate to have places left where we can experience the West as our ancestors saw it. It’s time for the BLM and this administration to embrace the promise of the National Landscape Conservation System to ensure that our children have that same opportunity.

ANN MORGAN

Vice President

Wilderness Society

Denver

Morgan is the former Bureau of Land Management state director for Colorado and Nevada.