Saving the Red Desert: 50,000 Antelope Can't be Wrong

by Mac Blewer

"Mac, we have to stop them from developing this."

 He really wasn't talking directly to me.  He was thinking out loud to the wind and the sky and the desert.

Keith, an electrician from southwestern Wyoming, stood on the edge of the Honeycomb Buttes, looking out at Steamboat Mountain and the surrounding Jack Morrow Hills Study Area. The vast expanse of unroaded wild land here almost defies description - miles upon miles of sagebrush, rabbitbrush and greasewood, with occasional glimpses of iron-rich red clay and green limonite formations.

If oil and gas drilling is allowed in the Red Desert, some of it will probably be within the mineral-rich land around Steamboat Mountain.  In my mind's eye, I tried to imagine what the oil rigs would look like, along with their accompanying roads and buildings.  I wondered if Keith was thinking the same thing.  The serious look in his eyes belied his slight smile.

The Red Desert affects people in different ways.  Sometimes, one can get simply giddy with life out here.  And sometimes the desert invokes silent introspection.  Keith seemed to be enjoying that silence so I made myself scarce and went to check on the group.

A Day in the Honeycombs

Peter Dvorak, a tall middle-aged man with long gray hair and beard stood by his three year old grandson, Elija, while Marian looked on.  Elija had run, walked, skipped and crawled over two miles to get to this central prehistoric valley in the Honeycombs, and it didn't look like his energy was going to dissipate any time soon. Elija seemed to be fascinated with a new discovery.  He had found a pile of fossilized turtle shells, fish scales and petrified wood and was busy running his little hands through his treasures.  He smiled when I told him that we were in a prehistoric valley once occupied by  leviathan crocodiles, sharks and sea turtles. Yes, I could see a future conservationist or paleontologist in this one.

 Just a few yards from Elija's treasure trove we found some old bison bones and the tips of several arrowheads - possibly an old kill site.  And just a few yards away we found the footprints of an elusive, nocturnal swift fox and a pile of desiccated mountain lion scat.  If it wasn't for the spectacular scenery, one could easily spend the entire day just looking at the mysteries scattered at one's feet.

The Honeycombs are well named; they do indeed look like gigantic honeycombs - with tints of red, orange, yellow and brown - rising up out of the earth.  Other parts look like jellyfish - where purple, gray and green deposits melt together.  It is a dynamic landscape, where water and wind are constantly at work.  Although the Honeycombs is one of the best examples of "badlands" geology in Wyoming, "painted lands" would be a more appropriate term.

Again, I wandered to the periphery of the area and looked out on the surrounding sea of sage. "Only a mad poet could love this," a 19th century traveler remarked upon seeing the vastness of the Great Divide Basin. Perhaps the ranchers, outfitters, hunters, horse-packers, dirt bikers, recreationists and oil and gas men and women I have talked with are "mad poets," but their love of the Red Desert is visceral, and very, very real.

"Mac, I don't always agree with what WOC does, but I tell you this - for God's sake keep drilling out of the Jack Morrow," said a friend of mine who works for a gas company in Fremont County.  "If that's what you guys want to do, then I'm with you a hundred percent of the way."

Saving a Special Place

The Red Desert is truly Wyoming's secret Serengeti and should remain so.  It would be a travesty to allow further mineral extraction within this 600,000-acre chunk of land, when over 90% of public lands in southwestern Wyoming are open to leasing and development.  How much is enough?  Where do we draw the line in the sand?

Unfortunately, Wyoming is the only state where designation of national monuments through Executive Order is not an option.  In 1950, the Wyoming  congressional delegation decided to support the expansion of Grand Teton National Park, but only with the stipulation that there would be no further designations of national monuments or national parks within the state without full congressional approval.  While some may see that amendment to the Antiquities Act as a boon, it has severely hampered conservation efforts in Wyoming over the past 50 years.

Ever since 1898, when Dr. Frank Durham, a prominent writer for Recreation Magazine, proposed that the Red Desert be designated a winter game preserve, there have been numerous efforts to protect the area.  Over the past century, government officials and citizens have attempted to further protect the desert from exploitation by recommending that it be designated as a national monument, a national park, a national natural landmark, a North American antelope range and even a wild horse refuge.  However, even with the leadership of such greats as Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, former Wyoming Governor Leslie Miller,  WOC founder Tom Bell, geologist Dr. David Love and Izaak Walton League leader Tom Dustin, these valiant attempts have been, to date, unsuccessful.

Will We Succeed?

As currently drafted, the alternatives offered within the BLM’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Jack Morrow Hills area allow for unacceptable levels of oil and gas drilling and large-scale mining throughout the planning area.  Even the so-called "conservation alternative" (Alternative B) opens up 50% of the available land in the planning area to leasing and development.

It is my hope that the BLM will do the right thing and craft a bold plan that will emphasize the more traditional uses of the desert over resource extraction- namely, recreation (including responsible ORV use), hunting and sustainable grazing.   A coalition of concerned citizens, businesses and conservation groups are currently crafting another alternative, the "Citizens’ Red Desert Protection Alternative" that takes the strides necessary to ensure the conservation and continued use of this area for future generations.  The agency now has an excellent opportunity to prove itself during the coming months.  Time will tell if this prediction holds true.

While nobody can predict the outcome of this issue, one thing is certain.  There are many, many desert rats in Wyoming and throughout the United States who will fight tooth and nail if necessary to save this place.

With 70,000 coalbed methane wells projected for the Powder River Basin and 10,000 to 15,000 conventional gas wells projected for southwestern Wyoming in less than 20 years, it would seem greedy and unnecessary to open up this wildlife Mecca to mineral extraction.  Hasn't Wyoming already paid its fair share to ensure our nation's "energy security?"

 "Peter!  Peter, what are we doing here?"  I turned around to see Elija staring up at his grandfather with a large grin on his face.  His treasures lay scattered at his feet and he jumped up and down with excitement. "What are we doing here?" he asked again.  Peter towered over Elija, looking down at his grandson's beaming face.  It was  a scene worthy of a Norman Rockwell painting.

"Well, Elija, we're here to see the Honeycombs and explore the Red Desert.  Isn't it beautiful?" Elija didn't answer but he laughed as he began to march down the trail.  We fell behind our young leader and continued our trek into the mystical landscape of the desert.