Those Red Desert Blues

by Mac Blewer

Scrambling over what had been a prehistoric forest, I had to stop and catch my breath (too much time behind a desk, not enough time on my feet). Still, regardless of my physical conditioning, I couldn’t have been happier.

WOC, Wind River Pack Goats (WRPG) and the Sierra Club had sponsored a three-day citizens’ tour of the Honeycomb Buttes of the Red Desert. Our leaders were John Mionczynzski, a professional naturalist, and Charlie Wilson, owner of WRPG, a Lander-based outfitting business. John has traveled the area for over two decades and few know it as well. He would frequently stop to point out an unusual rock, an edible plant or the prominent scars left by an oil rig.

Fossils of tree limbs lay all around, most the size of my fingers, a few the size of horse troughs. Prehistoric bits of turtle shell, horse bones and arrowhead chippings also lay scattered, testimony to the diverse inhabitants who had frequented this ocean-turned-desert.

I suddenly looked up. Our group had flushed an eagle and I had been startled by the beating of its impressive wings. The Red Desert, the last relatively intact high-elevation desert in the Rocky Mountain region, stretched out for mile upon painted mile. The browns, greens, reds, yellows and purples of sands, clays, vegetation and rocks stood out vividly. On one side of the ridge, vast tracts of sage mixed with wildflowers, grasses and cacti, and on the other, the gnome-like, multi-colored formations of the Honeycombs stared up at us.

No wild horses were out to greet us, but that didn’t matter. We had seen signs of the place’s mysterious denizens and knew who was here: delicate coyote footprints in creeks, mountain lion scat, bones from an owl kill.

We could also see the beginnings of the Killpecker Dunes, a shifting sea of sand which contains ancient ice deposits. Wherever the ice is uncovered, it melts, forming ponds — veritable tadpole and frog smorgasbords for waterfowl in this desert paradise.

A national treasure
The desert is not "desolate," as some assert. The largest migratory antelope herd in the lower forty-eight roams here as well as substantial numbers of elk and mule deer. Some of the highest numbers of raptors in Wyoming soar here, and rare plants and insects live here, some possibly unknown to science. Even an occasional moose can be sighted. It seems sadly fitting that the last truly wild, free-roaming bison in Wyoming reputedly died here.

The Red Desert is also a historic land. The Shoshone claimed most of it; the southernmost part was claimed by the Utes. Pioneers on the Oregon and Mormon trails used Oregon Buttes and other desert landmarks to keep them on course during their treks westward.

This land is one of the last, great American wild places and one of our best kept secrets. It is awe-inspiring. It is unique. And it is VERY endangered.

Development threats
In addition to its natural and historical bounty, the desert also contains large deposits of oil, gas and minerals. Much of it has already been developed, and extractive industries are chomping at the bit to get at the rest of it. There is only a handful of people who could stop them — a few hikers, hunters, ranchers, outfitters, several conservation groups and their active members.

In 1935, Wyoming Governor Leslie Miller attempted to designate part of the area as a National Park, but he failed. Similar efforts in the 1960s by High Country News and WOC founder, Tom Bell, to designate part of the area as a North American Antelope Range also failed. A 1994 Citizens’ Wilderness Proposal recommended that seven Red Desert areas, including the Honeycombs, be designated as wilderness.

The BLM will soon release a Coordinated Activity Plan (CAP) for the Jack Morrow Hills, an area encompassing 600,000 acres in the desert. The CAP will determine where drilling can occur, where more roads can be constructed and where land can be preserved. Sadly, plans to industrialize the Red Desert are apt to move more quickly and be far more successful than any past efforts to protect it.

"Afford to keep them deserts"
That evening, as the campfire flickered, these thoughts wheeled through my head like the bats above us. My mood darkened.

"Mac, how about some Scottish tunes?" John yelled, pulling out his accordion. With this group, no one could stay moody for long. We hummed, philosophized and sometimes just sat in silence, listening to the coyotes and poor-wills.

"I envy you your deserts — not just because they are deserts, but because you can afford to keep them deserts." These words of Israeli leader David Ben-Gurion which I had read to the group haunted me as I shuffled towards my sleeping-bag.

"Afford to keep them deserts... AFFORD to keep them..." I pray that we can "afford" to keep this one.

Because we can.
We CAN.
We can if we REALLY want to.

What You Can Do

Urge the BLM to afford special protection for the 88,000-acre Steamboat Mountain "core area" by:

• Prohibiting new roads on Steamboat Mountain.
• Reclaiming and obliterating unnecessary and environmentally damaging roads that crisscross the area.
• Controlling human access during critical periods such as severe winters and spring calving times for antelope, elk and deer.
• Prohibiting mining and oil and gas development on Steamboat Mountain and in the surrounding core area. Request that existing leases be allowed to expire and that new leases not be issued.

For the rest of the 600,000-acre area:
• Tell the BLM that the plan must be designed to achieve the CAP’s management objective for the area: long-term protection for the Steamboat Mountain elk herd, as well as preservation of other wildlife and the natural beauty of the area. All management actions must favor wildlife over conflicting land uses.
• Stress the significance and importance of protecting the entire ecosystem, including the basin big sage and mountain shrubs on stabilized sand dunes along Steamboat Rim, Oregon Buttes, Indian Gap and the Box Canyon area.
• Ask the BLM to develop a "travel plan" for the entire area, based on a "no net increase" in road density.

Please send your correspondence to:
Renee Dana
Project Coordinator, BLM
PO Box 1869
Rock Springs, WY 82003
(307) 775-6001 (phone)
(307) 352-0328 (fax)
e-mail: rock_springs_wymail@blm.gov

Al Pierson
State Director, BLM
PO Box 1828
Cheyenne, WY 82003
(307) 775-6001 (phone)
(307) 775-6003 (fax)
e-mail: al_pierson@blm.gov

Governor Jim Geringer
Capitol Building
Cheyenne, WY 82003
(307) 777-7434 (phone)
(307) 632-3909 (fax)
e-mail: governor@missc.state.wy.us