Op-ed; Dave Chadwick

Op-ed; Dave Chadwick is executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation
Even before Ryan Zinke starts his first day as Interior secretary, some members of Congress are pushing to throw out an important and broadly-backed rule that gives Americans a bigger voice in how public lands are managed. That’s unfair to Zinke, unfair to Montanans, and unfair to millions of public land users across the West.
Last year, the Bureau of Land Management issued new rules for decision-making on the lands that the agency manages. The new rules, called Planning 2.0, provide additional opportunities, earlier in the process, for the public to provide input on how our public lands are used. This means that hunters, anglers, ranchers, hikers, boaters, coal miners, energy companies, tribes, counties, and everyone else with a stake in public land management will have more information and will be able to express their opinions how our lands should be managed.
For the Montana Wildlife Federation, the rule means new opportunities to protect important fish and wildlife habitat, such as migration corridors and other large habitat areas. By identifying these lands earlier in the planning process, we can find ways to conserve them alongside energy development and other public land uses.
Planning 2.0 also benefits other public land users. Early involvement means more opportunity for public land ranchers to weigh in. Loggers, miners and energy companies will have an easier time if we can get out of the react-and-regulate mode of the past and start strategically identifying areas where development should take place.
Early reports show that Planning 2.0 is working. One of the early tests of the new rule is taking place right here in Western Montana. Sportsmen, conservationists, business owners, tribes, local governments, and ranchers have been showing up and participating.
But now Congress is considering a resolution to throw out the new rules, cosponsored by our own Sen. Steve Daines. If the resolution passes, the BLM will be forced to go back to the old planning rule, which is more than 30 years old and well-known for keeping all public land users in the dark.
Even worse, the law that Congress is using to throw out the rule – the “Congressional Review Act – specifically prohibits any future attempt to recreate any of the good parts of Planning 2.0. We’ll be permanently locked into an old rule that didn’t work for anybody.
Congress should leave the new planning rules in place and allow the new secretary the opportunity to decide for himself how to move forward. I think he will agree with hunters and anglers, snowmobilers and skiers, ranchers, loggers, and other stakeholders who have already been working with Planning 2.0 here in Montana. Having BLM listen to the local community early in the process just makes sense.