Protecting ecologically important areas at risk from oil and gas development

Oil and gas (O&G) resource development is a prominent land use on the 245 million acres federally managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as well as on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). This development has significant ecological and climate consequences including the fragmentation of habitats that can alter landscape connectivity and disrupt wildlife behavior and population health and the burning of extracted fossil fuels that can exacerbate climate warming. Limiting O&G development on lands with high local, regional, and/or national significance, such as through their formal withdrawal from consideration for leasing under statutes such as the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), is likely to have positive ecological and climate implications by preserving robust ecological functions and reducing the overall amount of carbon emissions from extraction and burning of fossil fuels. The Changing Landscapes Lab identified currently unleased and unprotected BLM and USFS lands in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming with high value for wildlife and local ecosystems to provide the evidence base that our partners on the ground can use to make a formal case for withdrawal. We identified unleased lands that are of high value in terms of their ecological intactness, their contributions to maintaining landscape connectivity, the degree to which they support imperiled species, and their ability to buffer organisms against the impacts of present and future climate changes. Ultimately, this analysis mapped millions of acres of BLM and USFS lands of high ecological value that would stand to be lost if they are leased for O&G development. Our results provided advocacy organizations and federal officials valuable tools that can be used when deciding where federal withdrawals might best be able to safeguard these precious lands.