Too often, it seems, the news pages are filled with bad news. I suppose we're partly responsible. Because we care so deeply about Wyoming and its environment, and because we're literally on the front lines every day fighting to protect our air and water quality, wild rivers, magnificent open spaces and free-roaming wildlife, we become personally involved in our work, and that emotion and passion shows in our writing. We struggle to be upbeat in the midst of what is now widely acknowledged as an unprecedented stealth attack by the Bush Administration on the nation's environmental protection laws, many of which have a direct bearing on the well-being of Wyoming's citizens and health of our land.
So when there's good news, such as the recent decision by Bridger-Teton National Forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton to ban oil and gas drilling on nearly 370,000 acres of remote forest land, we feel an added impetus to pass it along. (See the article on page 5.)In a press release announcing the decision, the supervisor explained that "leasingthese areas of the forest for oil and gasdevelopment could compromise their nationally-significant character and highlyvalued recreation opportunities."
I am proud of the role that WOC and its members played in our multi-year campaign that culminated in this decision. More than 13,000 individuals commented on industry's proposal to develop this area, the vast majority of whom opposed the effort. This victory illustrates the power of citizens to influence public decisions through coordinated and focused grassroots efforts. Please join me in thanking U.S. Senator Craig Thomas and Governor Dave Freudenthal, both of whom supported Ms. Hamilton's landmark decision.
Also under the heading of good news, WOC's March 15th Restoring Wild Patterns Symposium in Pinedale attracted more than 120 citizens and generated numerous newspaper articles, including an upcoming piece in the Los Angeles Times. Our RWP Program seeks to protect travel corridors used by pronghorn and mule deer to migrate between their summer ranges in the high country of the southern Yellowstone Ecosystem and crucial winter and birthing areas in the Red Desert. Clearly, based on the standing-room-only attendance at the RWP symposium, citizens care deeply about our wildlife's future. Despite significant threats to big-game corridors, I am confident that education and public awareness will provide the key to securing lasting protection for the longest terrestrial wildlife migration in the contiguous United States.
Sadly, the outlook for millions of acres of public lands administered by the BLM in Wyoming is not as favorable. The Bush Administration's intensive focus on domestic energy development has significant implications for special places like the Red Desert and the Upper Green River Valley, in addition to millions of acres of private "split-estate" lands in the Powder River Basin and elsewhere underlain with federal minerals managed by the BLM. Massive energy projects - requiring tens of thousands of miles of new roads and pipelines - are now proposed in every major basin in Wyoming.
Given unprecedented levels of energy development spreading across the state, Wyoming's open spaces, abundant wildlife and clean air and water are threatened to a degree never before seen. In its zealous pursuit of the administration's energy policy, one can legitimately question whether the BLM has abandoned its legal mandate to manage our public lands for multiple use and sustained yield.
The pressures on Wyoming's wildlife have never been greater. Prolonged drought, improper livestock grazing practices, extensive habitat destruction, subdivision sprawl and insidious wildlife diseases like chronic wasting disease are all taking a toll.
However, as the no-leasing decision on the Bridger-Teton National Forest demonstrates, when we work together we can prevent the wholesale industrialization of our state's most sensitive and vulnerable areas, and influence the manner in which industrial development takes place in areas where it is appropriate. |
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