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March 6, 2009
Draft Resource Management Plan for
the Carrizo Plain National Monument Available for Public Review
BLM Will
Accept Public Comments Until April 23;
ForestWatch Will Demand Strong Protections
for Wildlife and Wilderness
Earlier this year,
the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released the first-ever
comprehensive management plan for the Carrizo Plain National
Monument, a 206,000-acre expanse of grasslands and stark
mountain ranges in southeastern San Luis Obispo County adjacent
to the Los Padres National Forest.
photo © Bill Bouton
The draft plan - called a
Resource Management Plan - is now available for review, and the
BLM will accept comments on the plan through April 23, 2009.
ForestWatch is working with our region's leading scientific
experts and a coalition of conservation organizations to ensure
that the plan contains strong protections for wildlife and
wilderness, and will submit our recommendations to the BLM. Stay
tuned for how you can submit comments to the agency and
participate in this process.
When finalized later this year,
the plan will provide standards and guidelines for all lands and
resources on the monument. The major issues addressed in the
plan include wildlife, vegetation, fire management, air quality,
soils, water resources, geology, Native American cultural sites,
views, wilderness areas, livestock grazing, oil and gas
drilling, recreation, and vehicle travel management.
The draft plan is the product
of an eight-year planning process that has been surrounded with
controversy. Oil companies have set their sights on the monument
for exploratory drilling - first in 2005 on the southern
boundary of the monument, and then again in 2008 in the heart of
the monument. In some areas, livestock grazing in this arid
landscape has come at the expense of rare plants and animals
found here. The planning process came to a virtual standstill
for two years after monument manager Marlene Braun committed
suicide because of bitter disagreements with agency bureaucrats
over their emphasis on resource extraction at the expense of
rare plants and wildlife. The
planning process resumed in 2007, culminating in the draft
plan that was released this year.
ForestWatch is carefully
reviewing the draft plan, and while it appears to be a step in
the right direction, there are still improvements that must be
made to ensure the protection of wilderness and wildlife on the
Carrizo Plain. ForestWatch will continue to demand strong
protections for this unique landscape, tracking the planning
process every step of the way.
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