HELENA, Mont. – A broad coalition of conservationists, sportsmen and political leaders is speaking out against a move in Washington, D. C., to replace a long-standing program that uses oil and gas royalties to conserve land, with one that diverts much of the royalty money for other purposes.

Last week, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing on the proposed Protecting America's Recreation and Conservation (PARC) Act as a potential replacement for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The latter program expired in September when a small group of congressional Republicans blocked a vote.

Dave Chadwick, who heads the Montana Wildlife Federation, said the PARC Act would essentially gut the LWCF, a program that has been in place for 50 years.

"It has broad bipartisan support in Congress," said Chadwick of the LWCF. "It's really just being held up by a small fringe that has an ideological problem with public lands, despite the many benefits that public land provides for those of us who live in the West."

Just since 2005, Montana has received almost $240 million for projects through LWCF programs. Over the years, it has helped fund 800 local parks and sports fields, and has contributed funds to about 70 percent of Montana's fishing access sites.

The PARC Act would limit the government's ability to buy land, including isolated, private parcels surrounded by federal land. It also would set aside 20 percent of the royalty revenues to retrain oil and gas workers as the economy converts to clean energy.

To John Gale, conservation director for the group Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, conservation money should not be siphoned off for that purpose.

"We think the time is now to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund as it exists now – and then, fully fund it," Gale said.

The entire Montana congressional delegation has indicated support for the LWCF.

Alan Rowsome, The Wilderness Society's senior director of government relations for lands, is optimistic that the LWCF will win out, and be permanently reauthorized.

"I think that there is a political will and momentum building, with bipartisan members of Congress who want to see this done," said Rowsome. "And that should hopefully be helpful and important to keeping this on the agenda, and having it be a part of the conversation for a legislative victory, moving forward."

If nothing is done, the monies that were once set aside for conservation will simply be returned to the U.S. Treasury's general fund.

The House Committee on Natural Resources is expected to hold another hearing, but has not yet set a date.



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The Bureau of Land Management recently released two rules that alter how the agency manages its 245 million acres of public lands, 48 million of which are found in Nevada.

The BLM's new Public Lands Rule will put conservation on par with other multiple uses, and the agency's Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process Rule revises outdated fiscal terms for oil and gas leasing operations.

Nevada is home to four national parks which bring the state more than $280 million in economic benefit from tourism, according to the National Park Service.

The National Parks Conservation Association's Senior Program Manager of Energy and Landscape Conservation - Beau Kiklis - contended national parks are not just what he called "islands of conservation," but components of a much larger connected landscape.

"In Nevada, in particular Southern Nevada," said Kiklis, "where we do have an abundance of BLM land, there is also an abundance of national park sites in the southern part of the state, going up all the way until Death Valley. "

Kiklis said the new rule will introduce a more responsible approach to where and how the BLM authorizes oil and gas leasing as they'll be taking a closer look at "leasing preference criteria."

Kiklis said that means the agency will be assessing whether there are historic properties, sacred sites and cultural resources that are within a proposed lease area.

If there are, he said the agency will look to other areas where operators already are.

Matthew Kirby, senior director of energy and landscape conservation with the NPCA, argued the two rules will bring what he called a "semblance of balance back to public lands," and will allow the BLM to fulfill its obligation to manage those lands with a multiple use approach in mind.

He added that the oil and gas program was an example of how unbalanced management had been until now.

"Industry was allowed to lock up land for less than a price of a cup of coffee," said Kirby. "They could speculate, they could develop, all at the expense of the taxpayer and the public that was no longer actually able to use that land, to recreate on that land. But thanks to this new rule, we are really on the path to fix that broken system."

Kirby said the oil and gas rule will enshrine what he calls "critical updates," that were a part of the Inflation Reduction Act - and includes increases on the royalties and rental rates and terms for leasing the development of public lands.

As critics work to roll back new Bureau of Land Management rules, public lands advocates are defending the agency's move to put conservation uses on equal footing with extraction and development.

Matthew Kirby, senior director of energy and landscape conservation for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the new rules can be used to benefit national parks, for example, by reducing pollution from oil and gas drilling on the 3.3 million acres of BLM-managed mineral rights in eastern Colorado.

"Thousands of feet higher than where the actual drilling is happening, you can go up to Rocky Mountain National Park," Kirby recounted. "You can't even see on some days, (in part) because of pollution that is coming from drilling activities."

The rules also identify conservation tools to restore degraded lands owned by all Americans, and to keep natural landscapes intact. Industry groups have called the rules a land grab. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., have promised to repeal the rules finalized in April, claiming they block access to public lands and subvert the multiple-use requirement under the Federal Land Policy Management Act.

Ninety percent of lands managed by the BLM remain open for oil and gas development. There are more than 31,000 orphaned wells within 30 miles of national parks and the new rules update bonding requirements to prevent more abandoned sites. Kirby noted until now, corporations have run the show.

"Industry was allowed to lock up land for less than the price of a cup of coffee," Kirby asserted. "They could speculate, they could develop, all at the expense of the taxpayer and the public that was no longer actually able to recreate on that land. But thanks to this new rule, we're really on a path to fix that broken system."

The new rule also gives the BLM tools to steer any future oil and gas development away from national parks. More than 80 national park units sit adjacent to public lands managed by the BLM and Kirby argued any development affects parks, connected waterways and wildlife migration corridors.

"Wildlife migrate across borders, water moves across national park borders, air flows in and out," Kirby stressed. "What happens outside of national parks really is critical to national park resources."

Conservation groups, tribes and community organizers are praising President Joe Biden's decision Thursday to expand two national monuments in California.

Together, the monuments will gain about 120,000 acres. The Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is 90 minutes northwest of Sacramento and the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument lies just east of Los Angeles.

Brenda Gallegos, public lands manager for the nonprofit Hispanic Access Foundation, said millions of urban families live close to the San Gabriel Mountains.

"A lot of our Latino communities don't have access to nature, prominently, like 67% of Latino communities don't have access to green spaces or blue spaces," Gallegos pointed out. "Having these expansions designated today brings us closer to closing that nature gap."

The president used his powers under the Antiquities Act to expand the monuments in order to increase public access and protect the watershed and wildlife habitat. The move also makes progress toward Biden's goal of protecting 30% of the country's public lands by 2030.

Gallegos said Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Lake County will include an area previously known as Walker Ridge, now renamed Moluk Loyuk, which means Condor Ridge in the Patwin tribal language.

"This is important because it establishes a co-stewardship with federally recognized tribes and will return the indigenous names of these lands to them," Gallegos explained. "This continues to build that great relationship with tribes."

Land managers will now create a new management plan for the area, which could include new campsites, hiking and mountain biking trails, and even off-highway vehicle-designated routes.