Plan Overview

Initiative 1 - Sporting Conservation Council
- I. - Legislation Regarding Sporting Conservation Council
  - 1. - Pass legislation authorizing the Sporting Conservation Council
    
    1.1 - Provide a ten-year term for the Council.
    
    1.2 - Consider amending the Federal Advisory Committee Act to allow non-governmental, nonconsensus advice to federal land managers
    
    1.3 - Consider an exemption for information provided by landowners about species of concern under the Freedom of Information Act
    
    1.4 - Identify opportunities to promote cooperating agency status for state agencies
Initiative 2 - Increasing Public and Private Funding for Wildlife Conservation
Initiative 3 - Improving Wildlife Habitat Conservation
Initiative 4 - Expanding Access to Public and Private Lands
Initiative 5 - Educating, Recruiting, and Retaining Hunters
- I. - Promote Hunting Among Various Demographic Groups
- II. - Promote Hunting Through Public-Private Partnerships
Initiative 6 - Coordinating Federal, State, Tribal, and International Action
- I. - Assess Existing Lines of Coordination
  - 32. - Produce and act on a rigorous assessment of existing authorities related to hunting and game conservation
    
    32.1 - Convene an expert panel of natural resource management and legal professionals
    
    32.2 - Identify relevant authorities and craft a user-friendly compendium for use by relevant federal employees
    
    32.3 - Identify conflicting authorities and craft potential statutory and regulatory language to clarify and/or reconcile these conflicts
    
    32.4 - Develop a user-friendly compendium of relevant authorities that will be shared with federal employees and non-federal partners
    
    32.5 - Collect and update formal coordination agreements that should be established or updated
    
    32.6 - Produce a detailed proposal for a Public Land Law Review Commission
- II. - Enact Improvements
Initiative 7 - Understanding Climate Change and Wildlife Effects
- I. - Establish Lines of Communication
  - 36. - Establish an advisory relationship among federal land management agencies, state agencies and conservation organizations on climate change
    
    36.1 - Assess the potential of forests and wetlands on federal lands to sequester carbon biologically
    
    36.2 - Identify the programs and/or authorities necessary to create an insurance pool against carbon loss during sequestration contracts
    
    36.3 - Work with private sector partners to determine whether a market would exist for the proposed insurance pool
    
    36.4 - Develop mechanisms that would enable receipts from private sector insurance payments to be retained for improving or expanding wildlife species habitat
    
    36.5 - Direct revenue from future climate change initiatives such as “cap and trade” to wildlife, habitat, and conservation education
    
    36.6 - Incorporate carbon exchange rates in creating incentives for landowners to conserve habitats
- II. - Improve Data and Policy
  - 37. - Publish guidance to ensure federal agencies consider effects of climate change on wildlife, habitat and wildlife-dependent recreation
  - 38. - Refine CCSP data to describe climate effects on wildlife populations and habitats
    
    38.1 - Ensure that CCSP and other available data are made available for inclusion into the various agency management planning and decision-making processes
    
    38.2 - Develop models and forecasts that will relate climate-related changes to biological responses of at risk game species, populations, and habitats
    
    38.3 - Use expanded research partnerships with natural resource agencies to assist in the design, construction, and implementation of adaptation strategies
    
    38.4 - Analyze species requirements and habitat dependencies in relation to projections for climate change effects and impacts
    
    38.5 - Include state, university, and tribal partnerships in determining effects of climate change on at risk wildlife
    
    38.6 - Develop monitoring programs by federal biological research and management agencies for incorporating climate change effects on at risk game species, populations, and habitat
Initiative 8 - Conserving Wildlife and Developing Oil and Gas on Public Land

40.3 - Use the USGS estimates of the oil and gas resources of all onshore federal lands to identify areas of imminent conflict

Text from the Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan, 2008, Page 43

Use the USGS estimates of the oil and gas resources of all onshore federal lands as reported in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 2000, Phase III Report to identify areas of imminent conflict; develop appropriate strategies to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts; amend land use plans to incorporate these strategies; review stipulations and land use plans in light of new information; incorporate wildlife corridors and crucial habitats in NEPA analyses; and identify areas appropriate for temporary deferral of leasing until ongoing land use planning concerns are resolved.

Assessment of Status: Partially Complete

In 2010 the DOI released a package of oil and gas leasing reforms that included Master Leasing Plans. A BLM Instruction Memorandum (IM) established a process for ensuring orderly, effective, timely, and environmentally responsible leasing of oil and gas resources on Federal lands. The leasing process established in this IM will create more certainty and predictability, protect multiple-use values when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) makes leasing decisions, and provide for consideration of natural and cultural resources as well as meaningful public involvement.

Supporting documentation and findings

Communication with Tom Franklin

Communication with Tom Franklin, Senior Director of Science and Policy at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, informed the assessment of this action.

Email Correspondence with Jim Perry 4.29.13

In email correspondence Jim Perry, Division of Fluid Minerals at the Bureau of Land Management, wrote,

"BLM has deferred many lease parcels based on wildlife concerns until new RMPs are in place. An updated policy on BMPs was issued in 2007 and in 2012 a policy was issued on prevention of direct wildlife mortality during oil and gas operations. The BLM is currently working on a Regional Mitigation Manual Section as an update to its existing Offsite Mitigation policy. The new Manual Section will place a greater focus on a Regional Mitigation, essentially a landscape approach to mitigation. This will include pre-identifying areas for wildlife habitat enhancement or conservation."

Email Correspondence with E. Dwight Fielder 5.13.13

In email correspondence with E. Dwight Fielder, Chief Division of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, he wrote,

"WO-300 fluid minerals staff and WO-200 have jointly developed oil and gas master leasing plans and general leasing reform policy. The two staffs are also working closely to improve the NEPA analysis for federal coal leasing, with particular emphasis on long range rail transport and eventual export of federal coal to overseas markets. This improved analysis will better inform BLM coal leasing decisions in response to growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions."

Interview with Melissa Simpson 3.18.13

An interview of Melissa Simpson, Director of Government Affairs at the Safari Club International, provided information and direction on this action.

Oil and Gas Leasing Reform – Land Use Planning and Lease Parcel Reviews

"This Instruction Memorandum (IM) establishes a process for ensuring orderly, effective, timely, and environmentally responsible leasing of oil and gas resources on Federal lands."

Website for Memo on Oil and Gas Leasing Reform – Land Use Planning and Lease Parcel Reviews

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Plan Overview

40.3 - Use the USGS estimates of the oil and gas resources of all onshore federal lands to identify areas of imminent conflict

Assessment of Status: Partially Complete

Supporting documentation and findings