Deer seek foliage in retreating snow in grasslands near Miles City, Montana, in 2010. This area is typical of other grasslands and similar tracts that are included in a policy by acting U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who is ordering federal land managers to give more consideration to public access concerns when selling or trading public land. The executive’s order Thursday comes amid longstanding complaints that millions of acres of state and federal land in the American West can be reached only through private property or small slivers of public land. (Steve Allison/Miles City Star via AP, File)

Deer seek foliage in retreating snow in grasslands near Miles City, Montana, in 2010. This area is typical of other grasslands and similar tracts that are included in a policy by acting U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who is ordering federal land managers to give more consideration to public access concerns when selling or trading public land. The executive’s order Thursday comes amid longstanding complaints that millions of acres of state and federal land in the American West can be reached only through private property or small slivers of public land. (Steve Allison/Miles City Star via AP, File)

Interior boss order aims to protect U.S. public land access

Orders federal land managers to give greater priority to access for recreation.

  • By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
  • Thursday, March 21, 2019 5:14pm
  • Northwest

By Matthew Brown

Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. — Acting U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt ordered federal land managers on Thursday to give greater priority to access for hunting, fishing and other kinds of recreation when the government considers selling or trading public land.

The secretarial order comes amid longstanding complaints that millions of acres of state and federal land in the American West can be reached only by traveling across private property or small slivers of public land.

Bernhardt’s order requires the Bureau of Land Management to come up with alternatives to access routes that could be lost during land sales or exchanges. It also helps prevent land from being selected in the first place for potential sale.

The move could help boost Bernhardt’s conservation credentials ahead of a Senate confirmation hearing March 28, in which Democrats are likely to highlight his past work as an energy industry lobbyist.

Bernhardt has been nominated to replace former Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned in January.

Several hunting and conservation groups voiced support for the action, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Association of State Fish and Wildlife Agencies. But others said it appeared politically calculated to curry favor among lawmakers ahead of the hearing.

The critics pointed to drastic cuts in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports conservation and outdoor recreation projects nationwide.

Bernhardt said in a statement that the administration “has and will continue to prioritize access so that people can hunt, fish, camp and recreate on our public lands.”

Hunting and fishing advocates had pressed the administration to close what they considered a loophole in federal land policies that allows some sites to be sold.

The Bureau of Land Management oversees almost 400,000 square miles of federal land. A 1976 law requires agency officials to identify lands for potential sale or exchange, but not to look at potential effects on recreational access.

As a result, the bureau has identified for potential sale sites such as 11 parcels of land totaling 4.3 square miles adjacent to the Bighorn National Forest west of Buffalo, Wyoming, said Joel Webster with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

The area sits beneath the towering peaks of the Bighorn Mountains. One of the parcels identified for potential sale has a hiking trail passing directly through it, Webster said.

Another area identified for potential sale — an 8-square-mile tract of mostly grasslands near Miles City, Montana — is popular for deer, antelope and bird hunting and can be accessed from a nearby highway.

“It is one of the best mule deer hunting areas in the nation,” Webster said. “The BLM just has not been thinking about recreational access when they’ve been looking to sell lands. We think this order means much fewer acres with access are going to be available for sale.”

National Parks Conservation Association Vice President Kristen Brengel said the order’s timing — exactly one week before Bernhardt appears in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — casts doubt over the administration’s purpose.

“They’re paying lip service to an issue a lot of people care about,” Brengel said. “When the president’s budget doesn’t fund the most prominent program that would guarantee this access, this is completely empty.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Northwest

Alaska Airlines aircraft sit in the airline's hangar at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. Boeing has acknowledged in a letter to Congress that it cannot find records for work done on a door panel that blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon two months ago. Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and chief government lobbyist, wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell on Friday, March 8 saying, “We have looked extensively and have not found any such documentation.” (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
FBI tells passengers on 737 flight they might be crime victims

Passengers received letters this week from a victim specialist from the federal agency’s Seattle office.

Skylar Meade (left) and Nicholas Umphenour.
Idaho prison gang member and accomplice caught after ambush

Pair may have killed 2 while on the run, police say. Three police officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after the attack at a Boise hospital.

Barbara Peraza-Garcia holds her 2-year-old daughter, Frailys, while her partner Franklin Peraza sits on their bed in their 'micro apartment' in Seattle on Monday, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
Micro-apartments are back after nearly a century, as need for affordable housing soars

Boarding houses that rented single rooms to low-income, blue-collar or temporary workers were prevalent across the U.S. in the early 1900s.

Teen blamed for crash that kills woman, 3 children in Renton

Four people were hospitalized, including three with life-threatening injuries. The teenage driver said to be at fault is under guard at a hospital.

Whidbey cop accused of rape quits job after internal inquiry

The report was unsparing in its allegations against John Nieder, who is set to go to trial May 6 in Skagit County Superior Court on two counts of rape in the second degree.

LA man was child rape suspect who faked his death

Coroner’s probe reveals the Los Angeles maintenance man was a Bremerton rape suspect believed to have jumped off the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Logo for news use, for stories regarding Washington state government — Olympia, the Legislature and state agencies. No caption necessary. 20220331
Edmonds rep’s bill would try to stop police from lying in interrogations

Rep. Strom Peterson’s measure aims to make statements inadmissible if police use deceptive tactics to get those statements.

The exterior doors of Boeing's 737 assembly factory are shown closed Wednesday, March 27, 2019, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Boeing mechanics in Renton mis-installed piece that blew off plane, whistleblower says

A source says the fuselage panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines jet earlier this month was reinstalled improperly at the Boeing facility in Renton.

Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam, left, and Clyde Shaver
Arlington council member to run for state rep against Shavers

Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam called it a “little embarrassing” to have Oak Harbor Rep. Clyde Shavers “representing veterans.”

Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, at right, looks over at Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, ranking minority member of Senate Transportation Committee, at left, after participating in a panel during a legislative session preview in the Cherberg Building at the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024 in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Edmonds senator wants LGBTQ+ history taught in public schools

Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, is the bill’s prime sponsor and one of the Legislature’s LGBTQ+ members.

Logo for news use featuring Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington. 220118
Island County pays $2.75M to former Navy chief shot after standoff

A lawsuit alleged the Island County Sheriff’s Office was responsible for “state-created danger.”

West Beach Road was closed and residents were evacuated during the wind storm Tuesday. (John Fisken / Whidbey News Times)
Whidbey homes damaged, road closed, ferry rocked in wild wind storm

A wind storm toppled a tree onto a house, canceled ferry trips and prompted evacuations Tuesday.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.