Bureau of Land Management
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It’s Sage-Grouse Hunting Season

State officials still allow hunters to grab Greater sage-grouse, despite their imperiled numbers
by Jim Anderson

Some people just never “retire;” they just jump from one job to another. (Editor’s note: Case in point: Jim Anderson, who penned this piece despite announcing his “retirement” from this column!) Take Stu Garret, of Bend, as an example. When I met him way back in the ’70s, he was a family doctor practicing in […]

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Planning Effort Targets Southeastern Oregon

Environment group questions BLM plan choice
Hilary Corrigan

The public has another week to help craft an update to the plan that manages a chunk of southeastern Oregon. The Bureau of Land Management is amending its resource management plan for about 4.6 million acres of its public lands in southeastern Oregon. Federal law directs BLM to develop, maintain, amend and revise land use […]

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Cuts to Public Advisory Groups Spark Concern

Senators highlight the importance of public participation in BLM decisions
Hilary Corrigan

Oregon’s senators want to spare the volunteer groups that advise the Bureau of Land Management from proposed cuts, warning that getting rid of the groups could hinder the public from managing public lands. An executive order from President Donald Trump in June called for each executive department and agency across the federal government to evaluate […]

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Progress For Public Lands

The newly passed public lands bill helps with fuel reduction at Crooked River Ranch, but resource activists say it missed protecting some important public lands
Chris Miller

On March 12, President Trump signed the public lands bill— formally known as S. 47, or the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, into law. The Act, formerly known as the National Resources Management Act—includes the Oregon Wildlands Act. Included in this large piece of legislation was a new wilderness designation for […]

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Stolen Ballots Recovered on BLM Land

DCSO working with County Clerk to get ballots back to voters
Chris Miller

If you haven’t received your ballot for this November’s election, check with the Deschutes County Clerk, as it may have been part of the stolen mail recovered by a Bureau of Land Management Ranger on Monday. According to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, which received the stolen mail from more than 70 addresses throughout the […]

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In Congress, both parties agree on one public lands bill

A bill allowing public land sales for conservation inches towards passage.
Tay Wiles

At a time of extraordinary political division, it’s rare that a public lands bill gets sweeping bipartisan support. Fights over how to manage public lands rage in today’s West, from disputes over national monument boundaries to whether states should have control over federal lands. Yet when Rep. Rob Bishop, R-UT, brought a public lands bill […]

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Ready to Go Beyond Bend? A Network of trails now spans the country

The longest hauls across the West, by the numbers
Brooke Warren, Paige Blankenbuehler

A network of long trails crisscrosses the West, through open deserts and wild forests. Many trails follow historic routes where people made pilgrimages or embarked on exploratory expeditions. The National Trails System, managed by the National Park Service, has officially designated some of these extensive trails, seen here. HOW IT WORKS Under the National Trails […]

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Groups Protest BLM Plan

Oregon Wild advocacy volunteers organize
Sherron Lumley

More than half of the forests that once covered the Earth are gone, and each year, more disappear. Though many are aware of deforestation in South America, far fewer realize that it is happening right here in Oregon. The Bureau of Land Management posted an official protest period of April 16 to May 16, as […]

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Western Icons

Wild horse management raises concerns
Avatar photo Erin Rook

As the Bureau of Land Management continues its roundup of 1,500 wild horses in the Beatys Butte herd management area in Southern Oregon—one of the largest gathers in state history—agencies that manage the iconic species are under increased scrutiny. A little over a week before the roundup began, the Department of the Interior released a […]

Posted inOutside

Pity the Poor Sage-Grouse

Public lands for all animals
Jim Anderson

For the last four years, my wife Sue and I have been bouncing all over parts of Deschutes, Lake, and Harney Counties searching for golden eagle nesting territories. Among the sites we’ve found throughout the Great Sandy Desert are hundreds of square miles of land cleared of sagebrush where cows are chomping their way through […]

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