A National Wildlife Federation published this week says new oil and gas leases on public lands could harm existing hunting economies in the West.
The report identifies prime hunting and fishing territory that the Bureau of Land Management is opening up for lease sales, regions such as the Uncompahgre Plateau in Colorado and Rock Springs in Wyoming.
Aaron Kindle, the federation鈥檚 director of sporting advocacy who co-authored the report, said energy development adds to stressors like housing developments and the increasing number of people heading into the backcountry.
鈥淥ne day we鈥檙e going to look up and our livelihoods and our hunting traditions and our outdoors spaces are going to be really hard to maintain," Kindle said. "And that鈥檚 troublesome for a lot of us who really highly value having wildlife and wild places.鈥�
The report also highlights BLM lands in central Montana. While public comments favored multiple-use over the 628,500 acres managed by the agency's Lewistown Field Office, the recently released resource management plan would allow oil and gas leasing and development on 91% of it.
"If you developed at that scale, it basically points to prioritizing that over any and all other uses," Kindle said.
He added that lands that are leased but not developed are a problem, too, because they limit what can be done in those areas without generating royalties from oil or gas production.
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