Sportsmen care about the outdoors and upholding our great hunting and fishing heritage. Consequently, as natural gas development spreads steadily across the Beehive State, we're paying close attention to the industrialization of some of our finest hunting and fishing grounds.
While most sportsmen agree that energy development is an important use of our public lands, we believe that Utah's outdoor traditions must be maintained during development. With the Book Cliffs, Paunsaugunt, Strawberry Valley, Diamond Fork River and Bear River being eyed for oil and gas extraction, it's hardly surprising that the sporting community wants to ensure that our fish and wildlife resources and hunting and fishing opportunities aren't undermined in the process.
Recently, several Utah hunting and fishing organizations sent a letter to the Utah Bureau of Land Management voicing our concerns about the rapid pace of energy development on prime fish and wildlife habitat. We asked a series of questions to learn about the agency's efforts to secure a positive future for fishing and hunting in Utah on public lands under their management.
As avid sportsmen who appreciate Utah's outdoors, we wanted to know how the BLM planned to guarantee continued opportunities for Utah sportsmen to enjoy time afield in the face of accelerating public-lands energy development. We also wondered how important fish and wildlife habitat will be maintained during development, and restored once development is complete.
To this end, we asked the BLM, "Because development might keep our members from being able to fish or hunt indefinitely on public lands that our families traditionally have used, what will the BLM do to provide us with alternative locations where we can continue these activities?"
After nearly five months, the BLM finally responded but only answered four of our 14 questions, electing to rely on site-specific development plans to address concerns, falling disappointingly short of an adequate response.
The agency suggested that eight of the unanswered questions were too vague. "Without a specific example . . . it would be entirely speculative to respond to these questions." These types of statements only intensify our concerns.
Our outdoor heritage and more than a century of sportsmen's conservation are at stake in the race to develop our public energy reserves. Utah's economy relies heavily on revenues generated by outdoor recreation and will even more in the future.
Isn't it time the BLM started thinking about this stuff in a big-picture way?
Approximately 7,800 new wells are expected in the Vernal and Price areas over the next 15-20 years. More than 10 million acres of Utah public lands are being evaluated for future energy development by the BLM at this moment.
Balancing energy development with a range of multiple uses on our public lands not only makes sense, it is required of the BLM under federal law. Utah sportsmen are dedicated to working with diverse interests and public agencies to find common-sense solutions that benefit everyone.
We support balanced energy development that maintains our hunting and fishing traditions. If the BLM fails to consider the needs of hunters and anglers enough to offer thoughtful responses to our questions, we feel this is a problem.
Utah hunters and anglers have invested millions of dollars and decades of work into rebuilding and conserving Utah's fish and game populations. We do not want to lose these significant gains. The BLM has a responsibility to work with the sportsmen's community to ensure that our investments will be protected and that hunting and fishing opportunities are not lost.
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* DAN POTTS serves on the Salt Lake County Fish and Game Association board of directors. CHRIS THOMAS serves as the Utah Trout Unlimited council chairman. JOEL WEBSTER is an initiative manager with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
