BLM re-opens recently completed Rock Springs plan, snubbing significant public input
Northern Red Desert, WY
Mason Cummings, TWS
2024 plan incorporated community feedback to protect wide open landscapes
ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (October 1, 2025) — The Bureau of Land Management released a notice of intent to amend the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan (RMP) Wednesday, raising concerns that the agency’s new leadership will scrap years’ worth of careful planning and public input and produce a plan that offers far fewer protections for important wildlife habitat and recreation areas.
Finalized in late 2024, the Rock Springs RMP will guide the stewardship of nearly 3.6 million acres of public land in southwestern Wyoming for the next two decades. It was the product of years’ worth of planning and extensive public involvement. The plan incorporates conservation measures supported by 92% of the public comments submitted on the draft plan, plus 85% of the recommendations made by a group of local community members that Governor Mark Gordon assembled to suggest improvements.
The following are three statements from Wyoming residents in response to the news:
“The Rock Springs RMP represents a forward-thinking approach to land-use planning—one shaped by science, local knowledge and extensive public feedback. The work behind it demonstrated what’s possible when the government listens to the people who know these lands best and operates in a balanced and transparent way. There is no reason to re-do a plan finalized less than a year ago, after decades of local input. Rewriting the plan now, especially through this fast-tracked amendment process, will undercut years of community work and end up excluding the voices of those who live, work and recreate in southwest Wyoming,” said Julia Stuble, Wyoming state director for The Wilderness Society.
“After a decade and a half of planning, the finished resource management plan ensures that special places where we hunt, fish, camp and hike, like the Northern Red Desert, Big Sandy Foothills and Greater Little Mountain, are protected for future generations to enjoy. During this rewrite, we expect Governor Gordon and the BLM’s leadership to respect the full array of local opinions and maintain protections for these remarkable landscapes. Attempts to speed through this process and disregard community members will lead to an unbalanced plan that is bad for Wyoming and damages trust in our government at all levels,” said Mark Kot, a retired land use planner from Rock Springs, Wyoming.
"An immense amount of hard work and local input went into crafting thoughtful land management prescriptions in the final plan, such as increased habitat protections for a wide variety of wildlife, from sage-grouse to mule deer, pronghorn, and elk. Those protections were overwhelmingly supported by almost all of the submitted public comments. The costs and inefficiencies of unraveling a plan that has already taken over a decade to finish are significant. Any changes to the plan should continue to respect public input to secure a plan that works for Wyoming and the nation," said Alec Underwood, conservation director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council.
Once published in the Federal Register, that announcement will kick off a 30-day public comment period.
Contact: Chelsi Moy, Communications Director, chelsi_moy@tws.org
