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By WHITNEY ROYSTER
Star-Tribune environmental reporter
JACKSON -- A report documenting mule deer activity in Sublette County is being hailed by both sides of the energy issue as supportive of their positions.
Conducted by Western Ecosystems Technology Inc. of Cheyenne, the report says, in part, that mule deer are avoiding oil and gas well pads and drilling rigs more and more each year. The report also identified a new mule deer migration corridor along the base of the Wind River Mountains.
Energy company representatives say their proposal to reduce the number of well pads by employing directional drilling should help deer. Conservationists say the report shows more information is needed before opening areas to energy exploration.
Hall Sawyer, a wildlife biologist with WEST Inc. who helped develop the report, said the response of mule deer to energy development appears to be immediate.
"In year one of development, they began using habitat away from the well pads," he said. And, in subsequent years, the animals move farther away, he said.
"It doesn't lend any evidence that they are acclimating," he said.
Sawyer also said areas considered high-use mule deer habitat once developed are abandoned for less desirable areas.
"Deer might be displaced to less-preferred habitats," he said. "From a biological perspective, that is a red flag."
The team also documented a narrow migration corridor at the base of the Winds.
The corridor is about 50 miles long and rarely exceeds a mile in width. The area has been designated as "off limits" to energy development by the Bureau of Land Management pending a new resource management plan for the area.
For people like Ralph Faler, who is a fifth-generation Sublette County resident, the report shows that more information is needed before allowing more energy development.
"I just don't think they can tell what the long range is going to be in this," he said. He said there may not be enough habitat when all the drilling is done for mule deer to winter.
"When it's gone, it's gone, and it ain't like, 'Let's go back and fix it,'" Faler said. "There isn't any fixing it."
But Ron Hogan, Pinedale project manager for Questar Exploration and Development Co., said the report shows mule deer avoid places with human development, which is why the company's winter drilling proposal should be more attractive.
"From our perspective, all the findings that we see so far are preliminary, but they do tend to support what we're trying to do with our year-round drilling plan," he said.
With year-round drilling -- granted by the BLM to Questar last month -- the company will drill six wells from three pads for nine years during winter months, starting next winter. The company will then employ directional drilling throughout the year, minimizing the number of well pads needed and reducing the human footprint. It will also install pipelines to ship condensate, which will reduce truck trips and more human disturbance.
But Peter Aengst with the Wilderness Society, a group that says it has been working to ensure energy development is properly balanced with wildlife and habitat needs, called the report a "red flag."
"If we allow BLM to continue down the path they're on -- drill first and analyze and determine impacts later -- we could end up with some really kind of tragic casualties from that approach in terms of values that the pubic has in that part of Wyoming," he said. "In this case, we're talking about wildlife."
He said the report shows that planners cannot continue "business as usual" in Sublette County.
"It's much more expensive to fix things once you've broken them than to go slow and learn to adapt," he said.
Sawyer said the report is important to "get everybody on the same page" with mule deer information.
"Prior to this work, our knowledge of how deer respond to oil and gas development was based on anecdotal evidence," he said. "With this type of statistical analysis, we hope that at least we can get everybody on the same page and agree that deer are indeed avoiding these well pads."
He also said the good news is survival and reproduction rates appear unaffected by energy development.
The report, dubbed a "Long term monitoring plan to assess potential impacts of energy development on mule deer in the Pinedale Anticline Project Area," is funded by Questar and the BLM. Thousands of deer were fixed with GPS radio collars to track their movements.
The study is in its fourth year and is expected to continue through 2007.
Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at [email protected].
http://www.casperstartribune.net/ar.../wyoming/fa16be8ce19d0e6c87256f5d00064ff9.txt :MAD
Star-Tribune environmental reporter
JACKSON -- A report documenting mule deer activity in Sublette County is being hailed by both sides of the energy issue as supportive of their positions.
Conducted by Western Ecosystems Technology Inc. of Cheyenne, the report says, in part, that mule deer are avoiding oil and gas well pads and drilling rigs more and more each year. The report also identified a new mule deer migration corridor along the base of the Wind River Mountains.
Energy company representatives say their proposal to reduce the number of well pads by employing directional drilling should help deer. Conservationists say the report shows more information is needed before opening areas to energy exploration.
Hall Sawyer, a wildlife biologist with WEST Inc. who helped develop the report, said the response of mule deer to energy development appears to be immediate.
"In year one of development, they began using habitat away from the well pads," he said. And, in subsequent years, the animals move farther away, he said.
"It doesn't lend any evidence that they are acclimating," he said.
Sawyer also said areas considered high-use mule deer habitat once developed are abandoned for less desirable areas.
"Deer might be displaced to less-preferred habitats," he said. "From a biological perspective, that is a red flag."
The team also documented a narrow migration corridor at the base of the Winds.
The corridor is about 50 miles long and rarely exceeds a mile in width. The area has been designated as "off limits" to energy development by the Bureau of Land Management pending a new resource management plan for the area.
For people like Ralph Faler, who is a fifth-generation Sublette County resident, the report shows that more information is needed before allowing more energy development.
"I just don't think they can tell what the long range is going to be in this," he said. He said there may not be enough habitat when all the drilling is done for mule deer to winter.
"When it's gone, it's gone, and it ain't like, 'Let's go back and fix it,'" Faler said. "There isn't any fixing it."
But Ron Hogan, Pinedale project manager for Questar Exploration and Development Co., said the report shows mule deer avoid places with human development, which is why the company's winter drilling proposal should be more attractive.
"From our perspective, all the findings that we see so far are preliminary, but they do tend to support what we're trying to do with our year-round drilling plan," he said.
With year-round drilling -- granted by the BLM to Questar last month -- the company will drill six wells from three pads for nine years during winter months, starting next winter. The company will then employ directional drilling throughout the year, minimizing the number of well pads needed and reducing the human footprint. It will also install pipelines to ship condensate, which will reduce truck trips and more human disturbance.
But Peter Aengst with the Wilderness Society, a group that says it has been working to ensure energy development is properly balanced with wildlife and habitat needs, called the report a "red flag."
"If we allow BLM to continue down the path they're on -- drill first and analyze and determine impacts later -- we could end up with some really kind of tragic casualties from that approach in terms of values that the pubic has in that part of Wyoming," he said. "In this case, we're talking about wildlife."
He said the report shows that planners cannot continue "business as usual" in Sublette County.
"It's much more expensive to fix things once you've broken them than to go slow and learn to adapt," he said.
Sawyer said the report is important to "get everybody on the same page" with mule deer information.
"Prior to this work, our knowledge of how deer respond to oil and gas development was based on anecdotal evidence," he said. "With this type of statistical analysis, we hope that at least we can get everybody on the same page and agree that deer are indeed avoiding these well pads."
He also said the good news is survival and reproduction rates appear unaffected by energy development.
The report, dubbed a "Long term monitoring plan to assess potential impacts of energy development on mule deer in the Pinedale Anticline Project Area," is funded by Questar and the BLM. Thousands of deer were fixed with GPS radio collars to track their movements.
The study is in its fourth year and is expected to continue through 2007.
Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at [email protected].
http://www.casperstartribune.net/ar.../wyoming/fa16be8ce19d0e6c87256f5d00064ff9.txt :MAD
