Move conserves 24,000 acres in Bridger-Teton National Forest, follows widespread public support for withdrawing important habitat from energy development
ALPINE, WYO. (August 25, 2009) – A Bureau of Land Management announcement on Sunday that 24,000 acres of valuable fish and wildlife habitat in the Bridger-Teton National Forest will be withdrawn from energy development was praised by Wyoming sportsmen who had gathered to celebrate passage of the Wyoming Range Legacy Act.<
The Aug. 23 event also was attended by Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Sen. John Barrasso and Susan Thomas, wife of the late Sen. Craig Thomas, who initiated the effort to establish protections for the Wyoming Range.
Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development, a coalition that supports balanced energy development in the Rocky Mountain West, commended the BLM decision regarding the 23 energy leases, which had been sold to the oil and gas industry but delayed by sportsmen defending the area’s high-quality habitat and unique hunting and fishing opportunities.
“This is a great step for our work in preserving some of the last, best places to hunt and fish in Wyoming,” said Tom Reed, backcountry coordinator for Trout Unlimited, which is a member of the SFRED coalition. “We don’t get involved in challenging leases on public lands because we’re against using domestic energy resources. We know how important domestic energy is to the country. But some places, like the Wyoming Range, are just too valuable to risk.”
An additional 20,000 acres in the Wyoming Range that have been leased to industry are still contested while the U.S. Forest Service completes additional environmental studies as directed by the Interior Board of Land Appeals. Sportsmen and others have challenged these leases.
“The Wyoming Range is an iconic Western hunting and fishing paradise – one that has produced some of Wyoming’s largest mule deer bucks and supported outfitting for more than a century,” said Steve Belinda, energy policy manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, which is a member of the SFRED coalition. “Allowing energy development in this region, a crown jewel of our federal public lands, doesn’t fit with what the people and elected officials of Wyoming have stated they want for the future of these mountains. It also would conflict with the outdoor traditions the area has provided generations of sportsmen in this part of the Rocky Mountain West.”
“We want to express our sincere thanks to the Department of the Interior for this decision, which protects more than half of the contested areas set aside for sportsmen in the Wyoming Range,” said Brad Powell, energy director of TU’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Project. “We think that if the same standards are applied, in terms of this area’s value both to fish and wildlife and to the families who have hunted and fished here for generations, the rest of the contested leases should be taken off the board, as well.”
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