Posted August 13, 2010 by Shawn Martini in Private Property, Regulatory, Wildlife/Environment. 10 Comments

Congressman Rob Bishop, the gentleman from Utah who kindly provided Americans with the documents that showed the Obama administration was planning another federal land-grab, has come through again. (The Pulse covered the original leaked document extensively. Read the original story here.)

Bishop’s office has release the entire BLM document titled “Treasured Landscapes” of which only pages were released a few months ago. It lays out what some consider a sweeping and detailed plan for changing the way the federal government manages land over the next 25 years.

The document lays out a sea change in the way the federal government manages land. It proposed that rather than manage individual plots of land, regardless of size, the government should consider managing entire “landscapes, ecosystems, airsheds and watersheds.”

The document also gives a not-so-subtle clue as to the size of the land area it seeks to “protect”.

“Of the 264 million acres under BLM management, some 130-140 million acres are worthy of consideration as treasured lands. These areas, roughly equivalent in size to Colorado and Wyoming combined, are valuable for their unspoiled beauty…”

It took Bishop months to get the document, which lays out the context for the snippets released a few months ago.

“They have clearly been dragging their feet, and they don’t want to let us know what they’re trying to do,” Bishop says.

He is especially concerned about portions of the document that recommend using the Antiquities Act “should the legislative process not prove fruitful.” The act gives the president power to designate a national monument with no public or legislative input.

The U.S. Department of the Interior released a statement that reads, in part: “The preliminary internal discussion draft reflects some brainstorming discussions within BLM, but no decisions have been made about which areas, if any, might merit more serious review and consideration.”

Their brainstorming session was how to do this without engaging Congress, without having to go to Congress for approval,” Bishop said.

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