Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Inc

Programs: Center for western lands (cwl): responsible management of federal public-lands and conservation of important backcountry areas are the main reasons sportsmen experience high-quality hunting and fishing in these areas. These intact public lands offer key habitat for numerous fish and wildlife species, including wild trout and salmon, upland game birds, mule deer, elk, pronghorn and wild sheep. Despite their importance, however, these places and the resources they sustain are facing mounting development pressures across the west from traditional and renewable energy development, transmission corridors and poorly managed off-road vehicle use. These issues form the core of the trcp's center for western lands. The trcp's backcountry working group is working with individual sportsmen, local groups and businesses, western governors and national decision makers to ensure that sportsmen's priorities are considered as the future conservation and management of our backcountry areas are determined. In 2017, trcp was forced to defend many of the gains made in the recent past as a new administration and new congress sought to redefine or undo many federal lands management policies. On issues such as blm land use planning, energy, forest management, and sage-grouse. Land use planningin the spring of 2017, the same day that president trump signed a congressional review act resolution of disapproval that nullified the blm's revised land use planning rule, doi secretary ryan zinke issued a memorandum to blm leadership directing the agency to develop a report that outlined steps that the blm could take to modernize its land use planning process. Priorities outlined include streamlining, working with state and local governments, increasing transparency, and right-sizing environmental documents. The trcp submitted recommendations to the blm both individually and collectively through the sportsmen for responsible energy development campaign. The blm was required to submit their report to secretary zinke by september 2017. While the report is not public, we believe it included recommendations and options for achieving the planning goals outlined in the memo. At the local land use plan level, the trcp western field team continues to work to advance the conservation of intact backcountry areas and migration corridors, and comprehensive energy development plans through blm individual resource management plans in colorado, oregon, nevada, idaho, montana, wyoming and new mexico. The trcp is also working to influence the outcomes of individual national forest plan revisions in idaho, colorado, arizona, and montana. While timelines for these plans have been delayed, we remain on track to achieve our goals. Energyin october 2017, the department of the interior released its long-awaited energy burdens report that "identifies agency actions that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources, and makes recommendations for eliminating or alleviating those burdens. As part of the recommendations, doi is recommending that the master leasing plan policy a key provision of the 2010 oil and gas leasing reforms be eliminated. The report also includes recommendations to evaluate the federal sage grouse plans, modify or rescind mitigation policies, and review blm designations. The trcp expressed our disappointment in the findings of the report and we are working to influence the report in different ways:1- master leasing plans: we do not believe that we can stop the unraveling of the mlp policy, and we are currently working to advance mlps in three distinct locations of the west where energy development is likely to occur in areas with high-value wildlife habitat. We are focused on convincing the administration to allow those comprehensive energy development planning process to continue, but under different nomenclature and independent of the mlp policy. 2- sage grouse: see below. 3- mitigation: the trcp is establishing a development and mitigation working group that will address policy and management actions surrounding existing mitigation policy and energy, transmission, and other development. 4- designations review: we are working to ensure that the backcountry conservation area designation is not targeted through the designation review by organizing a support letter from republican members of congress and by delivering support from conservative interests. Sage grousein june 2017, doi secretary zinke issued secretarial order 3353, which initiated a review of the federal sage grouse plans that amended 98 individual resource management plans, conserved 67 million acres of sagebrush steppe, and helped keep the greater sage grouse off of the threatened/endangered species list. In august, the review team issued their report, which included direction for the blm to work with the sage grouse task force to consider making changes to sage grouse management in a way that could affect energy development, grazing practices, mitigation strategies, and mineral withdrawals in focal areas. While this direction may lead to negative outcomes for sage grouse and the sage grouse plans, no conclusive decisions have yet been made by the administration. The trcp has also worked to prevent any legislation from rolling back or undermining the federal sage grouse conservation plans. Migrationthe trcp has long been working to persuade the blm to adopt tools for the consideration and conservation of wildlife migration corridors and stopover habitat. We are pursuing this objective at the national and local levels. Nationally, the blm is nearing completion of the 6500 wildlife manual, and we have been informed by the agency that wildlife migration corridors are heavily covered in the manual, which will be a management tool used by the agency once completed in late 2017 or early 2018. The trcp also recently completed a project with the wildlife management institute that listed an inventory and report on migration corridors in western states. The report identifies known corridors and information gaps, and it will be an important tool for us to use to bolster advocacy and provide technical input on rmps, forest plans and other land use planning efforts.