Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Congressional Western Caucus Chair Dan Newhouse (R-WA) have released the following statement after the Biden-Harris Bureau of Land Management released its final Greater Sage-Grouse Rangewide Planning Resource Management Plan.
“This greater sage-grouse plan will have wide-reaching impacts on farmers, ranchers and landowners across the west whose livelihoods depend on responsible management of federal lands,” said Lummis. “Instead of trusting states like Wyoming that have proven expertise in sage-grouse management, the Biden-Harris administration is making a last-ditch effort to exert more control over the west. I am confident the Trump administration will begin work on day one to correct the wrongdoings of this administration and properly restore the role of states in managing their own wildlife populations.”
“The Biden Administration is firing another salvo in their war against public lands across the west,” said Chairman Newhouse. “This proposal will have drastic impacts on land uses like grazing and energy production creating hardships for the men and women who depend on working lands for their livelihoods. I look forward to this proposal to be discarded in the new year.”
This plan will impact sage-grouse habitats in Wyoming, California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
In March, Lummis and Newhouse urged the BLM to extend the comment period on this sage-grouse plan in order for those who live and work on the lands impacted by the proposal to have ample time to provide public comment.
In October 2023, Senate Western Caucus member Jim Risch (R-ID) led a letter to Senate leadership to keep the greater sage-grouse off the endangered species list and for states to continue species management.
In July 2023, Lummis led a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies urging the committee to continue prohibiting the listing of the greater sage-grouse.
