FEBRUARY 7, 2025|
Photo – Rock Springs Field Office of BLM – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Joe Biden plan to shut off federal lands in Sweetwater County was scrubbed this week by the new Trump Administration.
Newly appointed Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum rejected the Bureau of Land Management’s controversial resource management plan for Rock Springs. The RMP, widely opposed across Wyoming, would have set aside 1.8 million acres, about half of the 3.6 million acres of land managed by the BLM Rock Springs field office, declaring the lands off limits as “areas of critical environmental concern.”
Hunting, motorized access, cattle grazing and energy development would have been restricted under the rule spearheaded by the former BLM director, Tracy Stone-Manning. Prior to taking control of the agency, Manning operated as a radical environmentalist. She left the agency earlier this year to become president of the Wilderness Society.
Wyoming lawmakers from Sweetwater County released a statement this week saying, “This decision paves the way to reverse an unworkable and restrictive proposal that would devastate Wyoming’s ability to responsibly recreate, develop, and produce on these public lands.”
Three state lawmakers from Rock Springs, Stacy Jones, J.T. Larson and Cody Wylie, released the statement.
