One of our country's most precious landscapes and its largest remaining ecosystem is at risk. In 2015, governors, friends of wildlife, sportsmen and women, and all who love the outdoors came together to develop plans to conserve the sagebrush country. Now, the Department of the Interior is trying to undo those commonsense plans.
We cannot sit by while the Greater sage-grouse, mule deer, pronghorn, burrowing owls, golden eagles, and other wildlife are in danger of losing their habitat. There is nowhere else to go.
It's not too late to act: Tell Secretary Zinke to keep the sage-grouse conservation plans intact.
Dear Secretary Zinke:
The health of the sage-grouse determines the survival of an entire ecosystem, including the golden eagle, elk, pronghorn and mule deer. The current plans keep these public lands open for all to enjoy, while incorporating key protections for the grouse and its habitat, representing conservation and collaboration work at its finest.
The current plans represent a balanced approach that was crafted with input from a wide set of interests, including conservation, recreation, sportsmen and women, state and local governments, and industry. The key provisions rely on science from state wildlife agencies, federal agencies and nationally recognized experts in the field. The hard work that went into these plans produced a compromise that should be upheld.
I am very concerned that changes to these plans will undermine the important protections put in place to protect the greater sage-grouse and its habitat, which supports so many important species and are enjoyed by so many Americans. You can make the right decision and choose the option in your own formal notice to amend none of the BLM land use plans that were finalized in 2014 and 2015 across the West.
I urge the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management to stay the course and not amend or otherwise undermine these plans.
[Your comments here.]
Sincerely,
[Your name]
