Conservation and hunting groups worry that solar facilities on public lands will disrupt wildlife corridors
Hot spots: Sites like the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone in Nevada are chosen for the Western Solar Plan for their high solar potential. Photo: BLM
By Kendra Chamberlain. January 23, 2024. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has opened up its 2012 Western Solar Plan to include Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The original Western Solar Plan identified only Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah as areas for solar development.
The expanded plan proposes opening 22 million acres of public land across all 11 states for solar development.
The agency says it has identified 700,00 acres of that land as ideal for solar development because it is within 10 miles of existing or planned transmission lines, has comparatively few sensitive resources and offers minimal conflict with other uses of public lands.
The BLM manages roughly 10 million acres of land in Idaho and 12.5 million in Oregon. There’s relatively little BLM land in Washington.