Close to Home: A new priority for public land

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is the largest land manager in the nation, including a nice chunk of land here in Northern California. While BLM isn’t exactly a household name, the success of its mission to manage the public lands for “multiple use and sustained yield” is critical to mitigating the worst impacts of climate change.

That’s why I was excited to see BLM propose a new public lands rule that would mark a historic improvement in how the agency approaches its work. In short, BLM is seeking to raise the floor on how it manages public lands and to explicitly recognize that conservation of healthy, resilient ecosystems is an integral part of its mission. These changes are long overdue and I commend BLM’s leadership for making this a priority.

Closer to home, BLM’s Arcata and Redding field offices are working on a comprehensive plan — known as Northwest California Integrated Plan — that will direct how more than 380,000 acres in Northern California are managed. Specifically, the plan covers BLM land in Butte, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Mendocino, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties. BLM expects to release a draft plan for public review and comment this summer. I hope BLM uses this as an opportunity to protect land that many of us know and love, places like English Ridge on the Eel River in Mendocino County and the proposed Trinity Alps Wilderness additions in Trinity County.

These places and others covered by the plan are also proposed for protection in legislation by Rep. Jared Huffman and Sen. Alex Padilla. While partisan dysfunction has stalled passage of this visionary bill for almost a decade, the Northwest California Integrated Plan process offers BLM an opportunity to safeguard these special places by designating them as wilderness study areas. That designation can provide strong protection, ensuring Congress still has all options on the table when it takes up the Huffman-Padilla legislation.

For many reasons — wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, saving salmon and climate resilience — now is the time for BLM to take bold action to protect federal lands and waters. I’m looking forward to seeing the public lands rule cross the finish line, and I hope the forthcoming Northwest California plan process will protect wild places like English Ridge at long last.

Keith Hammond is on the board of directors of CalWild. He lives in Santa Rosa.

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.