CASPER — After several years of dormancy, a key public lands advisory body has re-constituted a quorum and is rapidly moving to establish local voices at the center of federal lands policy in the Cowboy State.
Authorized by federal law and administered within the Department of the Interior, the Wyoming Resource Advisory Council is a 15-member charter board composed of representatives from pertinent user groups. Members come from backgrounds in sporting and outdoor recreation to energy.
While the body has no official decision-making authority, it’s believed to hold outsized sway over agency action and could become a powerful political force in the state.
“The main function of this group is to make recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior, so if the RAC has an opinion or a direction they think the Bureau should go, that has a lot of weight,” said Brad Purdy, deputy state director for the BLM.
Last week, the RAC gathered in Casper to discuss energy trends and the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan, and after six years without a full quorum the group hit the ground running with a tentative priorities blueprint for 2024, including action on wild horse management.
“I thought it would take them longer to coalesce around goals and the things they want to accomplish,” Purdy said. “They’re ahead of schedule.”
The group’s reconstitution comes amid heightened interest in land-use policy, and it sets the stage for improved relations between Wyoming and the federal government, which have deteriorated in recent years over mineral leasing fights and related land-use squabbles. The gathering in Casper was a signal from both sides that a serviceable partnership is mutually desired.
“It wasn’t because of a lack of interest from the community of Wyoming. The reason for the lull in RAC involvement has more to do with direction and support from D.C.,” said Jennifer Leinenon, chair of the Wyoming RAC, who brings expertise from her background in the oil and gas industries. “So the fact that the [Biden] administration…started this back up and realized these were important has a trickle-down effect.”
The RAC’s ultimate power, however, will depend on its ability to present a unified front, which may yet be difficult for such a diverse group, and challenged moreover by the complex and high stakes issues at hand, including renewable project siting, wildlife management and fossil fuel energy development.
“Because of the diversity of this group you really see where you have to create a balance, and not everyone’s going to agree. But I see this eclectic group coming in to have a positive conversation about topics that affect the entire state,” Leinenon said.
BLM officials say the Wyoming RAC is setting a new bar and represents a welcome spike in public involvement.
“Sometimes we hold public meetings and nobody shows up. So you wonder how useful they are. But recently we have been getting a lot more interest and involvement,” said BLM-Wyoming State Director Andrew Archuleta.
“This group, in all my years working with RACs, is the most active and involved so far. It is super energetic,” he said. “I’m really excited about this group.”
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