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As the member of Congress who represents the portion of Nevada that contains one of the highest acreage percentages of sage hen habitat anywhere in the West, I was amazed by the literary skills displayed in your recent guest op-ed by outgoing Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe.

It's not news to anyone, especially in the intermountain West, that our greatest challenge in managing millions of acres of land owned by the Department of Interior is finding the right balance between multiple use and conservation. In attempting to find balance, Western governors, state agencies, county commissions and numerous local and regional stakeholders have demonstrated over the past several decades that they are responsible, effective stewards of lands and resources within their jurisdictions.

So, having reviewed Ashe's short historical "novel" about his and the present administration's unilateral policy decisions to essentially end historical multiple use in 11 western states, using sage hen habitat as the vehicle, I must respectfully offer a few salient facts for your readers' consideration.

1. The loss of the vast majority of habitat in the West is not due to human disturbance from multiple uses allowed on federal land! In Nevada, BLM statistics show over the past 20 years, we've lost between 6 million and 7 million acres to wildfire. At the same time, BLM district managers and Forest Service district rangers have permitted mining activities on 150,000 acres. That's a 43-to-1 factor. While human disturbance is certainly worthy of review and analysis, your assertion that mining, grazing, energy exploration, etc., are the main culprits is simply false and misleading.

2. The "broad coalition" you refer to is suing you for ignoring them! The alternative reality you set forth is incredible in view of the fact that, at your and Secretary Sally Jewell's subjective direction, multiple Western states' plans for recovering sage hen habitat were completely ignored in the final BLM Environmental Impact Statements. To date, there are eight lawsuits on behalf of four states and organizations because state and local officials and stakeholders were, and continue to be, ignored on a wholesale basis.

3. It's 173 million acres of sage hen habitat in the West, according to your Sept. 22, 2015, press release — not 4.2 million acres. Kindly attempt to avoid understating the footprint by a factor of 41-1. The area affected is larger than the state of Texas!

Finally, Mr. Director, your assertion that Rep. Rob Bishop's sage hen language in last year's National Defense Authorization Act was removed because of congressional environmental concerns earns your op-ed another fiction gold star. But a second fiction gold star is also in order for you, as the Bishop language in essence puts state wildlife and resource professionals in charge of sage hen habitat conservation and recovery, not the secretary of interior in Washington, D.C. Such a proposal does not "halt" anyone's efforts. It places resource and wildlife professionals in each western state in charge of habitat and species recovery in their respective states. God forbid!

As is evident when dealing with any resource or environmental issue in the West, the biggest challenges are most often, removing the "culture of cliché" from the decision so that local and regional policy makers and stakeholders can set forth and implement responsible and effective resource and land management strategies. I hope that the next administration learns from the mistakes of the last administration.

Mr. Director, thank you for your service and I look forward to the release of your first full-length novel. Give Rep. Chris Stewart a call for any literary advice you might want.

Rep. Mark Amodei is serving his fourth term as representative of Nevada's Second Congressional District. He currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittees on Interior, Financial Services and the Legislative Branch.