A lot is happening in Wyoming...check it out!

Wyoming Wildlife Federation Summer Membership Raffle

RAFFLE PACKAGES:

Ruger Model 77 Hawkeye .270 Win. rifle with Nikon scope (MSRP=$1032)

Sage FLi 2 piece, 6 weight fly rod with Lamson reel (MSRP=$534)

HOW DO YOU SIGN-UP FOR THE RAFFLE?

From June 1 to August 15, you can sign-up for the raffle by:

1. Extending your WWF membership - during this limited time, we’re offering a membership discount of 50%. (special offer: individual = $15, family = $20).
2. Signing up for the FREE Sportsmen’s Action Network (SAN), ensuring that decision-makers hear from you!

Learn more about the WWF Raffle

Little Mountain Lease Sales

The Greater Little Mountain Area, located south of Rock Springs, contains crucial habitat ranges for elk, mule deer, antelope, and important riparian and watershed areas for Colorado River cutthroat trout. It has become the latest important hunting and fishing area to be included in the rush to lease and develop southwest Wyoming’s public lands.

Over the past year, the Bureau of Land Management has offered leases in the Greater Little Mountain Area three times. Last November, after receiving more than 127 formal protests the BLM decided to remove 13 of 14 parcels it proposed to lease in the Little Mountain Area. Opposition came from members of the public, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners and a number of conservation organizations.

The latest: As one of its 84 parcels statewide, the BLM will lease a 1,753-acre parcel in the Greater Little Mountain Area in it's June 2nd lease sale. The greater Little Mountain parcel, on the east side of Potter Mountain near Brooks Draw and Elk Butte, is situated in a crucial mule deer range and sage-grouse core area and is adjacent to an elk migration corridor. 

Read more about Little Mountain

Atlantic Rim Opened for Drilling

In May 2007, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a Record of Decision (ROD), opening the 270,000 acre wildlife-rich Atlantic Rim area southwest of Rawlins to intensive coalbed methane (CBM) development. The Atlantic Rim ROD approves the drilling of approximately 2,000 new natural gas wells within some of the most productive big game habitat in Wyoming.

Read more about the Atlantic Rim

Pinedale Anticline Plan Approved

In September 2008, the Bureau of Land Management released its plan for drilling 4,400 more wells in the Pinedale Anticline Resource Area, a 1.2 million acre area of western Wyoming rich in natural gas, wildlife and scenery.

Bounded by the Wind River, Gros Ventre, and Wyoming ranges, the Pinedale Resource Area contains crucial big-game winter habitat, the longest migration corridor for pronghorn ever documented, and contains some of the best “stronghold” habitat nationwide for sage-grouse.

Jonah Field, 1986	Jonah Field, 2008

Read more about the Pinedale Anticline.

Wyoming Range Protected in Federal Legislation Package

Great news! The Wyoming Range Legacy Act was signed into law on March 30th along with 159 other public lands bills that collectively will protect millions of acres of public lands, including nearly 2 million acres of public land as wilderness. The Wyoming Range Legacy Act will limit future oil and gas drilling on a 100-mile stretch of the range, proteting the wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities there that make this area so special.

The Wyoming Range Legacy Act was originally drafted by the late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas in 2007 and then introduced by Sen. John Barrasso in 2008.

BLM Releases Rawlins Area Plan

The Bureau of Land Management recently released its proposed revisions to the Rawlins (commonly known as the Great Divide) land-use plan. The plan covers 4.6 million acres of public land and minerals in Wyoming's Red Desert. The BLM proposes opening 98% of the area -- all but 108,790 acres -- to oil and gas development. 

Click here to read more about the proposed plan.

Fortification Creek

The draft Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) and Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Fortification Creek Planning Area (FCPA) was published on August 7, 2008 and comments were due October 7th.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal criticized federal land managers for bypassing a full environmental review (as opposed to an EA) of coal-bed methane gas development in the Fortification Creek area of the Powder River Basin. BLM Buffalo field office manager Chris Hanson said an EIS isn't necessary in Fortification Creek because the agency's own resource management plan stipulates that no activities that would cause a significant impact are allowed in the area. However, since planning began more than three years ago, BLM officials have backed off several stipulations originally presented, such as burying power lines, piping out production water, entering wintering and calving ranges, a minimum 160-acre well spacing and allowing facilities on slopes greater than 35 percent. Conservationists say it's unreasonable to assume no significant impacts without those stipulations.

From here, the BLM will review the public comments and issue a final RMPA and EA.

Read more about the threats to Fortification Creek

Kemmerer BLM Releases Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Moxa Arch Energy Development Project

BLM Press Release: October 12, 2007 

The Bureau of Land Management today released its Notice of Availability (NOA) to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Moxa Arch Area Infill Gas Development Project. The 60-day review and public comment period begins today and ends on Dec. 10, 2007.

“We want and need the public to review this Draft EIS and the proposed alternatives and to provide comments to assist the BLM in crafting a preferred alternative,” said Michele Easley, Moxa Arch EIS project lead.

This DEIS analyzes impacts based on an infill drilling proposal for the 475,808-acre Moxa Arch Development project area in Lincoln, Sweetwater, and Uinta Counties in Wyoming.

More Information:

Read the entire press release

Link to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Administration's Public Lands Sales Proposals--Dead on Arrival

Article courtesy of Wyoming Wildlife Federation Staff and the Pronghorn Newsletter

In its 2008 proposed budget, the Bush administration once again included proposals to sell large amounts of both Bureau of Land Management and National Forest lands, despite the drubbing that these and similar proposals received from sportsmen and other public lands advocates in the previous year. The fact that these 2008 proposals were basically pronounced "dead on arrival" when they hit Congress speaks volumes to the work that we all accomplished last year.

Read more about public lands sales proposals.

Record of Decision on Casper Resource Management Plan Issued December 7th

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Casper Field Office is releasing the Record of Decision (ROD) and Approved Casper Resource Management Plan (RMP) on December 7, 2007. This RMP provides a framework for the future management direction and appropriate use of BLM-administered public lands and resources located in most of Natrona County, and all of Converse, Goshen, and Platte counties, Wyoming.

More Information:

Read the entire BLM Press Release

Read the Record of Decision

Go to the Casper Resource Management Planning website (BLM)

Related Article: Casper BLM field office updates management plan

'Are we losing the home place?'

Walt Gasson (executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation) - I wanted to be able to get behind the new alternative being proposed for natural gas drilling on the Pinedale Anticline. But in the end what I see here, despite weeks of media hype and what must have been a jillion dollars in public relations spending, is more of the same. The Bureau of Land Management continues to pursue its development at-all-costs policy for natural gas development in Wyoming. I ask that residents get engaged in energy development conversations, so that we can collectively decide about what we want to have happen on our "home place." Read entire opinion piece at Casper Star-Tribune.