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Wyoming Range lease sale draws protests
By Rebecca Huntington
Jackson Hole Daily
Hunters, anglers, outdoor educators and conservationists filed multiple protests Monday to challenge the sale of drilling leases in the Wyoming Range on the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Bureau of Land Management plans to auction 1,280 acres of national forest to drilling companies in a Dec. 6 sale. The sale is the first of 44,600 acres earmarked for lease sales by Bridger-Teton officials.
A variety of groups filed three separate challenges to the lease sale on Monday, the deadline for formally protesting the auction. The groups argue that drilling could damage important mule deer fawning areas and recreational resources prized by Wyoming citizens.
"The recreational values are off the charts in the Wyoming Range," said Ben Lamb, western Wyoming field director for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, a hunting and conservation group. The state federation joined with the National Wildlife Federation and Trout Unlimited in filing the protest.
"We're not opposed to responsible development," Lamb said Monday. "In this instance, there appears to be a significant portion of the area that would be leased [that] is pretty important mule deer and elk habitat."
Lamb also challenged the lease sale because it's based on 12-year-old environmental studies, which he said are no longer valid.
Likewise, a coalition of five conservation groups and a Hoback Ranches homeowners group also filed a protest asking the BLM to withdraw plans to lease the land. The groups argue that the leasing decision was based on old studies, did not allow public involvement and failed to take into account the cumulative impacts from an oil and gas boom in the nearby Upper Green River Basin.
For example, mule deer are already declining on winter ranges on BLM lands, which are now being drilled for natural gas, said Peter Aengst of the Wilderness Society. These new leases would cover lands that the same mule deer use as summer and transitional ranges, he said.
"You need to think about the multiple-use mandate from a regional standpoint," Aengst said. "Public lands in that region are already doing their fair share of production."
Bridger-Teton spokeswoman Mary Cernicek defended the leasing decision, saying that Forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton worked with several special interest groups to address their concerns. Hamilton cut the leasing package from an original proposal of 175,000 acres down to 44,600 acres to address citizens' concerns, Cernicek said.
"She reduced it by two-thirds," Cernicek said. "It's a multiple-use forest, and we're required to do oil and gas leasing."
Jen Lamb, public policy director for the Lander-based National Outdoor Leadership School, which also filed a protest, agreed that Hamilton tried to work with the group. Hamilton removed some areas from leasing that were important to NOLS, which teaches backcountry skiing in the Wyoming Range. But the oil and gas drilling would still encroach on the school's outdoor classroom, Lamb said Monday.
"Certain public lands need to be protected to support recreation and tourism," she said. "It is about balance. We need healthy public lands to sustain our business."
Opponents of the lease sale said that the Bridger-Teton already has leased 150,000 acres in the Wyoming Range and has more than a dozen wells in production and applications to drill new wells.
By Rebecca Huntington
Jackson Hole Daily
Hunters, anglers, outdoor educators and conservationists filed multiple protests Monday to challenge the sale of drilling leases in the Wyoming Range on the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Bureau of Land Management plans to auction 1,280 acres of national forest to drilling companies in a Dec. 6 sale. The sale is the first of 44,600 acres earmarked for lease sales by Bridger-Teton officials.
A variety of groups filed three separate challenges to the lease sale on Monday, the deadline for formally protesting the auction. The groups argue that drilling could damage important mule deer fawning areas and recreational resources prized by Wyoming citizens.
"The recreational values are off the charts in the Wyoming Range," said Ben Lamb, western Wyoming field director for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, a hunting and conservation group. The state federation joined with the National Wildlife Federation and Trout Unlimited in filing the protest.
"We're not opposed to responsible development," Lamb said Monday. "In this instance, there appears to be a significant portion of the area that would be leased [that] is pretty important mule deer and elk habitat."
Lamb also challenged the lease sale because it's based on 12-year-old environmental studies, which he said are no longer valid.
Likewise, a coalition of five conservation groups and a Hoback Ranches homeowners group also filed a protest asking the BLM to withdraw plans to lease the land. The groups argue that the leasing decision was based on old studies, did not allow public involvement and failed to take into account the cumulative impacts from an oil and gas boom in the nearby Upper Green River Basin.
For example, mule deer are already declining on winter ranges on BLM lands, which are now being drilled for natural gas, said Peter Aengst of the Wilderness Society. These new leases would cover lands that the same mule deer use as summer and transitional ranges, he said.
"You need to think about the multiple-use mandate from a regional standpoint," Aengst said. "Public lands in that region are already doing their fair share of production."
Bridger-Teton spokeswoman Mary Cernicek defended the leasing decision, saying that Forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton worked with several special interest groups to address their concerns. Hamilton cut the leasing package from an original proposal of 175,000 acres down to 44,600 acres to address citizens' concerns, Cernicek said.
"She reduced it by two-thirds," Cernicek said. "It's a multiple-use forest, and we're required to do oil and gas leasing."
Jen Lamb, public policy director for the Lander-based National Outdoor Leadership School, which also filed a protest, agreed that Hamilton tried to work with the group. Hamilton removed some areas from leasing that were important to NOLS, which teaches backcountry skiing in the Wyoming Range. But the oil and gas drilling would still encroach on the school's outdoor classroom, Lamb said Monday.
"Certain public lands need to be protected to support recreation and tourism," she said. "It is about balance. We need healthy public lands to sustain our business."
Opponents of the lease sale said that the Bridger-Teton already has leased 150,000 acres in the Wyoming Range and has more than a dozen wells in production and applications to drill new wells.
