Protecting Outdoor Recreation and Advancing Renewable Energy

Image: Ben Ducach

As the country moves toward a clean energy future, land management agencies like the BLM are planning for where renewable energy should—and should not—be developed.

For more than ten years, the BLM has used the 2012 Western Solar Plan to determine where it is appropriate to develop industrial-scale solar energy. Now, the BLM is updating its solar plan as part of a country-wide effort to increase renewable energy production while also protecting lands and waters (this was part of a 2021 executive order on climate).

Until April 17, the BLM is accepting feedback on its proposed solar plan (the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, or PEIS), which covers BLM lands in all eleven western states. Outdoor Alliance has been a keen advocate for climate action, including support for renewable energy. Public lands can be part of climate solutions, and it is important that we move expeditiously toward renewable energy development while also protecting core outdoor recreation and conservation values.

You can read our full letter to the BLM here, and here are a few big takeaways:

BLM Lands Are Home to Valuable Outdoor Recreation

BLM lands have some outstanding outdoor recreation opportunities. BLM lands are especially valuable for the opportunities they provide for dispersed camping and exploration. Since recreation access will be excluded from solar facilities and solar infrastructure will affect views or create noise, it will be important for the BLM to carefully identify potential recreation conflicts before allowing solar projects to move forward.

Exclude Additional High-Value Recreation Lands from Solar Development

In its preferred alternative, the BLM has identified 22 million acres of “solar application areas” where solar development can take place. Thankfully, the BLM’s proposed application areas exclude National Conservation Lands, Special Recreation Management Areas, and a list of other areas with important conservation and recreation values. However, these excluded areas don’t cover the full range of lands enjoyed by recreationists. Outdoor Alliance’s GIS lab ran a full inventory of the presence of outdoor recreation sites on the proposed solar application areas and found significant overlap with human-powered recreation, including hundreds of miles of trails, numerous climbing areas, and even a few whitewater rivers. Outdoor Alliance submitted this inventory, and is requesting that areas with existing human-powered recreation be excluded from potential solar development.

Limit Conflicts between Solar Development and Outdoor Recreation

Outdoor Alliance also shared feedback on how BLM can address potential conflicts with recreation access at the local level. In the case of conflicts, the BLM could require mitigation (for example, re-routing trails that might be affected by development). The BLM has also been implementing its Blueprint for 21st Century Recreation as well as finalizing the proposed Public Lands Rule, and plans for solar development should integrate the goals and work of these other initiatives. Finally, since BLM lands are home to a lot of dispersed camping, we hope the BLM will consider how to limit conflicts between solar development and camping as it moves forward.

Solar development is one important way that our public lands can move toward a clean energy future and be part of the solution to the climate crisis. We hope the final plans will help move development forward thoughtfully by mitigating conflicts in advance, such as ensuring that solar development happens in places that are not home to a lot of trails and outdoor recreation. The BLM is accepting feedback—including your comments—before April 17. You can make a comment directly to the BLM here.