The Montana Wildlife Federation joined wildlife conservation organizations from 12 other Western states and the National Wildlife Federation in a letter urging congressional leaders to demand the revocation of anti-public lands activist William Perry Pendley’s appointment as acting head of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The organizations, which represent hundreds of thousands of hunters, anglers, and other conservationists across the West, cited in a letter Pendley’s long record of support for the sale and transfer of public lands as well as the lack of hearings on his appointment or recently announced plans to relocate the BLM’s headquarters.
“Put simply, he believes public lands should not be in public hands. … This antipathy for public lands and outward hostility towards public servants who manage them must not be a belief held by someone in charge of the agency,” the conservation organizations wrote in the letter. “Further, the goal of selling off our federal lands is fundamentally in opposition to the bureau’s statutory responsibilities, its reason for being, its values, and its mission.”
Pendley has served for the last 30 years as president of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a radical activist group that routinely (and unsuccessfully) sues the federal government to curtail agency authority and public use of public land. Last week, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt issued an order making Pendley the acting head of the BLM — despite the position requiring U.S. Senate confirmation.
“Our public lands put food on our tables, support wildlife habitat, give us a place to recreate and find solace, and provide natural resources that support jobs in our communities. These lands that are owned by all of us are one of America’s finest ideas and deserve protection and wise stewardship, not wholesale attack through mismanagement and selloff,” the letter concludes.
The letter’s signatories are:
Montana Wildlife Federation
Idaho Wildlife Federation
Wyoming Wildlife Federation
Arizona Wildlife Federation
The Association of Northwest Steelheaders (Oregon)
Colorado Wildlife Federation
Conservation Northwest (Washington)
New Mexico Wildlife Federation
Nevada Wildlife Federation
North Dakota Wildlife Federation
Planning and Conservation League (California)
The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
South Dakota Wildlife Federation
National Wildlife Federation
