A New Guide for Activists

Authors Tom Darin, WOC's Director of Public Lands and Resources, and Travis Stills, staff attorney with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, highlight critical recent public lands oil and gas developments, including runaway coalbed methane natural gas extraction throughout the West and issues dealing with protecting surface owners on split-estate lands, where the federal minerals beneath their property are leased out to industry.

The 100-plus page guide is generously illustrated with photographs documenting at-risk landscapes and the impacts of oil and gas development on our wild places, environment and communities.

Gloria Flora, former supervisor of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada and Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest, who withdrew 400,000 acres of Montana's Rocky Mountain Front from oil and gas leasing, says, "This new guide is exactly what American citizens need! We're being bombarded with threats of energy crises if we don't allow unfettered access to public lands for fossil-fuel development. Our hearts and minds tell us differently.

"But where is the information that will allow us to effectively influence appropriate energy development? How do we know who to talk to, what to look for, and what really happens when exploring for and extracting fossil fuels?

"Enter Preserving Our Public Lands! If you believe that there is a better way to live sustainably on this planet and you want your grandchildren to share the incomparable beauty and rich treasures of public lands, then you want this guide. Demystify governmental processes and corporate doublespeak and become the informed change agent you know you can be!"

Karin Sheldon, Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental Law Center at the University of Vermont Law School, praises the guide. "As a long-time public lands activist, I dealt with many of the issues addressed in this guide in the 1980s and 90s. With the renewed push for fossil fuel development, the guide is more important than ever. It is an invaluable tool to empower citizens across the West to participate effectively in the oil and gas decision-making processes that impact our public lands. This powerful guide will enable citizens to protect local communities and the West's dwindling wild places."

If you would like to order a copy of Preserving our Public Lands, please contact Bonnie Hofbauer at (307) 332-7031 or bonnie@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.