Our Public Lands

The first Federal Duck Stamp in 1934 by Jay N. "Ding" Darling.

2009 Duck Stamp by Joshua Spies

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service debuted their 2009-2010 duck stamp on June 26th. The stamp features a long-tail duck and decoy painted by wildlife artist Joshua Spies of Watertown, S.D. Last fall, a panel of five judges chose Spies' art to grace the new Duck Stamp from among 270 paintings at the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The Federal Duck Stamp program began in 1934 when Jay M. "Ding" Darling, a famous cartoonist and conservationist conceived the idea to raise money for the purchase of wetlands. Since then sales of the stamps have raised more than $700 million to acquire and protect more than 5.2 million acres of wetlands, including habitat on hundreds of the 548 national wildlife refuges spread across all 50 states and U.S. territories. A current Duck Stamp is also good for free admission to any refuge open to the public.

Read more about the Federal Duck Stamp program.

America's public lands — and the fish and wildlife that they call home — are struggling with the effects of a century of hardrock mining. Recognizing that an outdated federal law is to blame for much of the damage, America's sportsmen and conservationists have for decades set their sights on reforming the 1872 Mining Law.

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW:

On April 2nd, Senate Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman introduced legislation aimed at modernizing the 1872 mining law -- the "Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009" (S. 796). The Senate Energy Committee plans to take up this legislation on July 14th.

Ask your Senators to support this historic bill...

Read more about the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009...

Court Ruling Benefits New Mexico's Otero Mesa

On April 28th, 2009 a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver ruled that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to uphold the National Environmental Policy Act in its 2005 Resource Management Plan for Otero Mesa. BLM put together its plan in response to requests for oil and gas leases on Otero Mesa after Harvey E. Yates Co. struck natural gas there in 1997.

In its decision, the appeals court said that the BLM failed to consider an alternative that would have put the area off limits to drilling and did not adequately consider potential impacts of drilling on the area's diverse plant and animal life and on a large underground water source.

Since the plan was released in 2005, it has been met with staunch opposition from Governor Bill Richardson, other state agencies and environmental groups, who finally sued BLM over the plan.

The court ruled that the BLM must complete a more detailed environmental review, including considering totally closing Otero Mesa to development, showing more evidence for conclusions about impacts on the area's aquifer and appropriately weighing oil and gas development against other possible uses, including conservation.

Read more about Otero Mesa

Enter the next phase of the contest

Our four-phase Write it! Wear it! Snap it! Boast it! Contest launched last summer when we asked you to help us create a slogan for the "Our Public Lands" website. And boy did you respond. We received over 900 slogans! After much deliberation, we finally decided on a winning slogan that embodied what the website was all about -- "Our Public Lands: Enjoy them for today, defend them for tomorrow" by Jen from Monkton, Maryland.

Since then, we've been working on incorporating Jen's slogan into a design for a T-shirt. We're finally finished and ready to launch the Wear it! and Snap it! portions of the contest.

Order your shirt to enter the next phase of the contest

WEAR IT:
Choose a men's, women's or youth T-shirt, long-sleeved shirt or sweatshirt with the new public lands logo! Because we want to walk-the-walk, all shirts are made in the U.S. using organic methods and materials.

SNAP IT:
After you have your public lands shirt, wear it out to your favorite public lands and capture it in a photo. Then, submit your photos to our Photo Gallery from now until September 30th.

Enter an unlimited number of photos of yourself, your friends and family having fun on public lands in each or any of the following categories:

• Watersports (kayaking, rafting, etc.)
• Hiking and camping
• Hunting and fishing
• Kids in nature
• Other (e.g., snowsports)

UPDATE 3/31/2009 -- On March 30th President Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, one of the most sweeping pieces of conservation and public land management legislation in decades.

This legislation includes more than 160 separate public lands proposals that will secure wilderness designation for more than two million acres in nine states, protect over a thousand miles of rushing rivers and streams and give legal status to the 26-million acre National Landscape Conservation System, which protects some of the most spectacular landscapes.

While signing the bill, President Obama stated, "As Americans, we possess few blessings greater than the vast and varied landscapes that stretch the breadth of our continent. Our lands have always provided great bounty -- food and shelter for the first Americans, for settlers and pioneers; the raw materials that grew our industry; the energy that powers our economy. What these gifts require in return is our wise and responsible stewardship."

Timeline:

• On January 15th the U.S. Senate passed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act.
• On March 11th, the U.S. House failed to pass the bill by just two votes.
• On March 19th, the bill was sent back to the Senate where it passed as an amendment to the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act (H.R. 146).
• On March 24th, the U.S. House Passed the bill.
• On March 30th, President Obama signed the bill into law.

NEW! Enter Colorado Wildlife Federation's Elk License Raffle

The Colorado Wildlife Federation, on behalf of the Colorado Wildlife Commission and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, is holding an elk license raffle.

The Elk license is a special license that does not affect the normal licensing process. This license would be in addition to other licenses you might obtain through the regular draw. The winner will receive a license that may be used during any open season or during all open seasons in an open area. It is good in any hunting area in Colorado provided the season is open and you hunt by the method specified for that area. Must be 18 years of age to enter the drawing. Limit of 25 tickets per person. Maximum of 1000 Elk raffle tickets will be sold..

Click here to find out more...

New Oil and Gas Regulations for Colorado

On Wednesday, April 22nd, Governor Ritter signed into law new rules for oil and gas development.  The new regulations will update 30 year old public health, water and wildlife protections for oil and gas drilling. 

On November 18th the Bureau of Land Management prematurely finalized regulations to govern the commercial development of oil shale on 2 million acres of federal lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. However, the new Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, is stepping in to ensure development does not move forward without sufficient information and environmental protections.

Secretary Salazar recently announced that while the department will consider oil shale as an energy source, it would do so only after cautious and careful consideration. Some of the questions that remain unanswered include the amount of energy required to extract oil from shale rock, the amount of water needed for the process, and the impacts to local watersheds, wildlife habitat and recreation.

By Wildlife Policy News

In December, the Sporting Conservation Council (a federal advisory committee) and diverse partners from agencies and conservation organizations released a 10-year plan, “Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation.”

The plan was a product of executive order 13443, issued by President Bush in 2007, that directed Federal agencies to “facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat.” The order first spurred a White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy in October of 2008. The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) authored the actions in the 10-year plan after considering the goals and recommendations generated by conference attendees.

The plan included 58 actions that addressed diverse conservation-related goals. The plan broadly recommended increasing conservation funding and improving habitat conservation. It also promoted increasing understanding of the effects of climate change on wildlife and conserving wildlife while developing energy on public land. Specific habitat actions recommended in the plan included creating a grasslands conservation initiative and creating a national strategy to coordinate the placement of wind farms and transmission lines with needs of early successional wildlife species.

Delicate Arch, Utah Photo: Steve Torbit

Update! February 4, 2009

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that the Bureau of Land Management would withdraw leases that were offered on 77 parcels of U.S. public land near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon. The leases on these 77 parcels are the subject of litigation in U.S. District Court.

“In its last weeks in office, the Bush Administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases at the doorstep of some of our nation’s most treasured landscapes in Utah,” said Secretary Salazar. “We need to responsibly develop our oil and gas supplies to help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but we must do so in a thoughtful and balanced way that allows us to protect our signature landscapes and cultural resources in places like Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon, for future generations.

Read the entire press release from the Bureau of Land Management.