A recent federal land policy change is being treated as a power grab by some and a return to mandated management by others.

On Dec. 22, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed Order 3310, directing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to regularly conduct wilderness resource inventories and give consideration to lands with wilderness characteristics when making land-use planning and project decisions.

In the three weeks since the announcement, protests have begun to dribble in, including Tuesday’s letter of opposition to Salazar from Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter.

Otter claimed the order directs the BLM to “treat much of the Idaho acreage under its control as ‘de facto wilderness.’”

“Without any state or public input, the Interior Department has circumvented the sovereignty of states and the will of the public by shifting from the normal planning processes of the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) to one that places significant and sweeping authority in the hands of unelected federal bureaucrats,” Otter wrote.

BLM managers point out that everything still has to go through the public comment process.

“I think people see the title (of the order) and think, ‘Oh my gosh, BLM is going to be declaring everything as wilderness,’” said BLM spokeswoman Jessica Gardetto. “But all public land actions still go through public comment.”

BLM Deputy State Director Cheryl Zwayne said the policy is still in flux. BLM managers were given a 30-day internal comment period and those comments will be used to produce the final guidance within 60 days.

“It’s my understanding that we’d start looking at lands as part of the (Resource Management Plan) process, and for those areas where projects are proposed, we could amend current RMPs,” Zwayne said. “There’s not going to be a large instantaneous designation of wild lands.”

The order will possibly influence an RMP for the Jarbidge area of southwest Idaho, which is still in the public comment period for its initial draft. BLM Jarbidge Field Office Manager Rick Vander Voet said the order won’t change the plan’s methodology. But since he manages some lands with wilderness characteristics, the order may influence the final decision on management alternatives.

The guidance has been a long time coming but isn’t new. Prior to 2003, the FLPMA established the BLM as a multiple-use agency that “where appropriate, will preserve and protect certain public lands in their natural condition.” As part of its multiple-use directive, the BLM was to regularly inventory its lands for all uses.

In 2003, former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt sued then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton over BLM land inventories. As part of the settlement, the Bush administration declared federal land would not be given wilderness protection unless designated by Congress.

Some claim Salazar’s order is an end-run around the Bush policy. Others say guidance for preservation of natural value fills the gap that’s been missing for BLM managers since 2003, and that the state by definition isn’t sovereign over federal land.

“This is just another use on the spectrum we manage,” Zwayne said.

“Under the Norton settlement, the BLM was directed to ignore public feedback that related to wildland protection,” said John Robison, public lands director for the Idaho Conservation League. “With these guidelines, the public actually gets its voice back.”

TAGS: C.L. “Butch”Otter, BLM, Idaho Conservation League, Ken Salazar, Interior Department