The Bureau of Land Management is currently drafting a management plan that will determine the future of 4.5 million acres of public lands in southeastern and south-central Wyoming.

The region encompasses much of the Red Desert, including all but a small northwestern portion of the Great Divide Basin. The basin is geographically unique because it is completely encircled by the Continental Divide, meaning that no rivers flow out of it. It is home to sensitive and striking wildlands such as Adobe Town and the Pedro Mountains, important habitat for ferruginous hawks and elk and numerous cultural and spiritual treasures, including the Overland Trail, petroglyphs and mysterious rock-pile sites respected by Native Americans.

Energy companies are pressing the BLM to approve a development scenario that would allow up to 10,000 coalbed methane, oil and gas wells in the area within the next 20 years. The thousands of miles of new roads and pipelines and the industrial infrastructure associated with that level of oil and gas drilling pose significant threats to the basin’s wildlife, wildlands and cultural resources.

After the agency releases its Great Divide Draft Resource Management Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement in March, citizens will have 90 days to submit written comments and testify at local public hearings. Input from conservationists, tribal members, hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts is crucial if we are to conserve the majesty of the Great Divide Basin through balanced land-management decisions that require oil and gas companies to abide by seasonal restrictions, stop wasteful natural-gas flaring, drill directionally and generally lessen the industrial impact on areas where it is appropriate to drill.