Letter to stakeholders

Editor’s Note: Acting BLM Director Michael Nedd wrote this letter on July 3, seeking input from public lands stakeholders for both land use planning and environmental reviews.

To Stakeholders in America’s Public Lands:

I write to you today to ask for your ideas.  

The President and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke have asked the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to take a new, in-depth look into our land use planning and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes.  As someone who cares about the nation’s public lands, your input is vital to determining how the BLM will approach land use planning going forward. 

Our goal is to identify inefficiencies and redundancies that should be eliminated from our land use planning and NEPA processes, while ensuring that we fulfill our legal and resource stewardship responsibilities. By doing this, we will be able to dedicate more time and resources to completing the important on-the-ground work on our public lands.  

Balanced stewardship of the public lands and resources is more important to the interests of the country and its people than ever before. This mission is also more complex and challenging than at any time in our history. But with your input, we can strike that balance.  

We are opening a 21-day period, beginning on July 3 and ending on July 24, in which you can submit your ideas specific to how we can make the BLM’s planning procedures and environmental reviews timelier and less costly, as well as responsive to local needs. This streamlining effort will help shape how we move forward. You can submit your input by going to goo.gl/CYxqM5.

The decisions made in land use plans and after NEPA analyses are fundamental to how BLM public lands and resources are used for the benefit of all Americans. We are committed to working cooperatively with state and local governments, communities, Indian tribes, and other stakeholders to determine the best ways to manage public lands for multiple uses and values, both now and in the future.

This effort is not required under any laws or regulations. We are doing this because we strongly believe that public input, especially at the local level, is an essential component of federal land management. 

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, 

Michael Nedd

Acting BLM Director