File - This April 10, 2014 file photo shows a male sage grouse trying to impress a group of hens, at left, near the base of the Rattlesnake Range in southwest Natrona County, Wyo. Four conservation groups have asked a judge to block a Trump administration plan allowing drilling, mining and other activities in seven western states they say will harm sage grouse. Western Watersheds Project and other groups asked for the injunction in U.S. District Court in Idaho late last week for Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, California and Oregon. (Alan Rogers/The Casper Star-Tribune via AP, File)
FILE – In this April 20, 2013 file photo, male greater sage grouse perform mating rituals for a female grouse, not pictured, on a lake outside Walden, Colo. Some Western governors say a new Trump administration directive threatens to undermine a hard-won compromise aimed at saving a beleaguered bird scattered across their region. The directive, issued in late July 2018, severely limits a type of land swap involving federal property. Critics say that eliminates an important tool for saving habitat for the shrinking population of greater sage grouse. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) FILE – In this April 20, 2013 file photo, male greater sage grouse perform mating rituals for a female grouse, not pictured, on a lake outside Walden, Colo. Some Western governors say a new Trump administration directive threatens to undermine a hard-won compromise aimed at saving a beleaguered bird scattered across their region. The directive, issued in late July 2018, severely limits a type of land swap involving federal property. Critics say that eliminates an important tool for saving habitat for the shrinking population of greater sage grouse. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
DENVER | Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources is protesting the Trump administration’s management plan for public lands in the southwest corner of the state.
Department Director Dan Gibbs sent the U.S. Bureau of Land Management an eight-page letter Monday saying the plan doesn’t do enough to protect the Gunnison sage grouse, which is a threatened species, or migrating wildlife.
Gibbs also objected to the way the plan was developed, saying the bureau gave state officials only one day to review it before making it public and opening a 30-day protest period.
Gibb said that damaged the relationship between the bureau and state officials.
A bureau spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an after-hours phone call and email.
The plan covers federal public land in Delta, Gunnison, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel counties.
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