Opinion ID: 183027
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Private rights to permanent improvements and water

Text: The 2006 Regulations also granted permittees shared title to permanent rangeland improvements as well as water rights on public lands to the extent permitted by state law. See 43 C.F.R. § 4120.3-9. In the ARC-DEIS, BLM's experts reported that [a]uthorizing joint title to range improvements will have [a] very long lasting adverse impact to the wildlife of the public lands in the West, and that loss of control and right to water on public lands will reduce wildlife habitat quality by promoting wildlife-livestock conflicts. AR 68007. The BLM's interdisciplinary team further noted that the present ability of BLM to hold water rights to benefit wildlife, particularly fish has been significant. Id. The Final EIS discusses the change in rangeland improvement ownership, but instead of analyzing the environmental consequences of the proposed ownership changes, the Final EIS focuses on potential development and economic gain, stating that the new ownership provisions may stimulate an increase in private investment in the construction of rangeland improvements. Final EIS at 4-25, 4-11; AR 661, 647. The Final EIS reports that the BLM projects that under the 2006 Regulations there would be approximately 1,200 new rangeland improvement projects developed each year over the next five years. Final EIS at 4-11; AR 647. There is no discussion in the Final EIS of the environmental impact of this increased construction. As to the changes in water rights, the Final EIS concludes without explanation that the proposed regulations would have little or no effect on present water resource conditions. Final EIS at 4-36.