Public Overwhelmingly Supports Protecting the Jack Morrow Hills

by Mac Blewer

Nearly 150 citizens attended the Lander hearing. Photo by Cody Beers, Riverton Ranger

Wyoming residents have voiced overwhelming opposition to the Bureau of Land Management's proposal to open the door to industrial-scale oil and gas development in the Jack Morrow Hills Study Area of the Red Desert.

During two BLM hearings held in Rock Springs and Lander in April, hunters, tribal members, local outfitters and other concerned citizens spoke ardently in favor of protecting the 620,000-acre Jack Morrow Hills Area and other parts of the eight-million-acre Greater Red Desert. At both hearings combined, those testifying for desert protection outnumbered those advocating more energy development by a margin of five to one.

Nearly 150 citizens attended the Lander hearing, during which 55 speakers advocated safeguarding the desert's natural, cultural and historic values, and 10 spoke in favor of increased energy development in the Jack Morrow Hills.

"This country, this world will be a poorer place when the great riches of the Jack Morrow Hills are trashed," said WOC founder Tom Bell, who received a standing ovation from the crowd. "The Red Desert - there is nothing like it. Why should we allow the destruction of its intrinsic value for a few short years of oil and gas development?"

Sean Francis, a 15-year-old student at Lander High School, testified, "The land at stake is a desert, not a playground for the oil and gas industry. My greatest fear is to one day see the Jack Morrow Hills as an industrial garden, rather than a desert."

Arapaho tribal member Mark Soldierwolf noted, "We've lost a lot of land that is so dear to us. Not only Native Americans, but all of us. We need to sit down and say, 'That's enough.'"

"We've been protecting these sacred sites since 1492," said Martin Blackburn of the Young Warrior Society. "That's our Homeland Security out there."

At the Rock Springs hearing, attended by more than 100 citizens, 43 of 56 speakers advocated strong protection for the desert, most of whom backed the Citizens' Wildlife and Wildlands Alternative, a home-grown proposal that would expand wilderness protection for the Jack Morrow Hills Area, while allowing responsible hunting, recreation, ATV use and grazing.

After the hearings in Rock Springs and Lander, Friends of the Red Desert member group Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and other environmental activists convened their own hearing in Laramie for citizens who were unable to attend the BLM's official hearings. Although BLM personnel were invited, none attended, fearing that the citizens' hearing would have a "rallylike" atmosphere. So, 70-plus Laramie Red Desert advocates had to content themselves with testifying to two empty chairs.

Citizens sent 65,000 letters, postcards and emails to the BLM on the Jack Morrow proposal, the largest outpouring of public comments ever received by the Wyoming BLM for a planning project. More than 50,000 of the comments supported the Citizens' Alternative.

"The Bush Administration has always stated that local concerns are important when it comes to decisionmaking," said Friends of the Red Desert organizer Marian Doane. "Now the question is, will the administration listen to what we have said?"