The wide-open landscape of the West is home to thousands of species of wildlife from moose to cutthroat trout to yellow-rumped warblers. These species and others should be protected for future generations. But, energy, land development and other stressors are putting wildlife in the West at ris. Many current leaders at the federal level are hyper-focused on carbon based energy development, which is making matters worse for wildlife and Westerners.
Studies have shown that we are losing natural areas in the West at an alarming rate while species the world over are feeling the impacts of development and climate change. A 2016 report from the Center for American Progress showed that the West is losing a football field’s worth of natural area to development every 2.5 minutes. Moreover, one third of North America’s wildlife are believed to be on the verge of extinction while another study showed 60 percent of the world’s wildlife have been wiped out since 1970.
{mosads}The research paints a bleak picture, and while solutions to this massive challenge are complex, we know with a high degree of certainty that we have to preserve habitat if we’re going to maintain healthy wildlife populations that help sustain our nation’s $887 billion outdoor recreation economy, our hunting and fishing traditions and a healthy ecosystem.
These lands, and the recreational activities happening on them, help support local communities that are diversifying their economies away from the boom-and-bust cycle of resource extraction. More and more, businesses and professionals are choosing to locate in areas that ensure access to the out-of-doors; communities that wish to tap into the recreation economy need the assurance that their investments won’t be derailed by widespread leasing of federal lands. Outdoor recreation is only growing as an economic driver, and it requires healthy lands and wildlife.
The protection and conservation of wildlife corridors is especially important as they are key to allowing species to migrate and move across landscapes, which is essential for sustaining healthy wildlife populations. The Interior Department has recognized the importance of wildlife corridors, issuing a Secretarial Order calling for states to study and identify key corridors for wildlife.
Unfortunately, the Interior Department, under the leadership of Acting Secretary David Bernhardt — a former energy lobbyist — failed to live up to their own promise of protecting corridors and the wildlife that depend on them. Studies have shown that oil and gas lease sales in key Western states are increasing at an unprecedented rate, and interfering with migration corridors for some of the same species the department has promised to protect.
As the Senate evaluates whether Bernhardt is the right person to oversee America’s treasured public lands and support the wildlife that depends on them, it must seek answers on how Bernhardt will do more to protect wildlife corridors. The current pace of oil and gas leasing will have disastrous consequences for wildlife in the West and our climate everywhere. Without a commitment to change course, our wildlife and our environment will continue to be imperiled by Bernhardt and the Trump administration’s carbon energy dominant agenda.
Patrick Shea is a private attorney, research professor of biology at the University of Utah. Shea previously served as director of the Bureau of Land Management and deputy assistant secretary for Land and Minerals at the Department of the Interior.