Last week I published an article about Sage Steppe Wild winning a stay against the Nature Conservancy’s authorization to bulldoze 13 new reservoirs to water the TNC’s cattle in the Indian Creek area of the Bear’s Ears National Monument.
A lot of readers were pretty disgusted with the TNC.
Well, I thought if you fall into that category, tell the TNC directly.
The TNC has a complaint form where you can send them your feedback.
The TNC’s Utah page also lists the main staff for their Utah office.
State Director
Elizabeth Kitchens
Phone: 801-531-0999 Email: ekitchens@tnc.org
Director of Conservation
Kelley Hart
Phone: 801-531-0999 Email: kelley.hart@tnc.org
UTAH PROTECTION AND STEWARDSHIP SPECIALIST
Kara Butterfield
Phone: 801-531-0999 Email: kbutterfield@tnc.org
Director of Marketing & Communications
Jim Breitinger
Phone: 801-531-0999 Email: jim.breitinger@tnc.org
You can find the background and details of the claims in the case here.
For our response to the BLM’s opposition to a stay, you can get it here.
For the court’s order, read it here.
I would send what you put in the complaint form to all the TNC’s staff via email.
And CC the key BLM decision makers:
Jake Palma – Monticello Field Office Manager jepalma@blm.gov
Nicollee Gaddis-Wyatt – Canyon Country District Manager ngaddiswyatt@blm.gov
Matthew A Preston – Acting Utah State Director mpreston@blm.gov
And if you have the stomach for reading agency bullshit, you can read the BLM’s fictional Environmental Assessment here.
Comments
I would suggest writing to the Dept of Interior or presidents office in D.C. instead of local or state offices of the BLM because the lower offices in the bureaucracy will usually stall and make excuses to cover their butts. And I would also mention the fact that the grazing fee for 2025 is still ridiculously low at $1.35 per animal unit month.
The minimum fee of $1.35 was set about 90 years ago by the Taylor Grazing Act (1934) and if you calculate the effects of inflation , one animal unit month of forage would be worth close to $30.00 at the present time.
If El Presidente really wants to stop government fraud then he should jump on congress to increase the grazing fee to fair market value. Livestock grazing is not an inalienable right on public lands, and the tax payers should not be taken advantage of for so long. Plus TNC does not represent public interests.
I don’t think much of it, that’s for sure! There’s way too much compromise and accommodation for ranching, with not much given in return (basically nothing).
If you want a good ironic laugh, just try suggesting that if they insist upon delisting wolves and grizzlies, put a buffer around the National Parks, and make running down wildlife with yee-haw! snowmobiles for fun illegal. It’s worth a try, but they won’t give an inch, but take a mile.
I’m surprised that Idaho has been a bit better, with the recent decision to keep limiting trapping of wolves to protect grizzlies.