Groups Target BLM Logging Plan That Aims to Help Sage-Grouse

Projects that would cut and “masticate” up to 10,000 acres at a time of pinyon and juniper trees on Western public lands could be approved without environmental review, under an Interior Department proposal.

The plan from the Bureau of Land Management justifies the exemptions as a way to benefit the chicken-sized greater sage-grouse bird. Environmental groups say that’s unlikely. They’re also calling for Interior to extend a 30-day public comment period on the proposal, which ends April 13 and falls during the coronavirus crisis.

Western states, including Wyoming and Colorado, and the federal government have been working ...