When Kniffy Hamilton, the supervisor of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, announced plans to go ahead with oil and gas leasing in the Wyoming Range this past summer, a diverse chorus of voices joined together in a clear note of opposition.

Opposition from certain sectors came as no surprise. But what was unexpected was the unified front of local businesses that came together to protest the lease sale. Their voices clearly argued that the leases not only jeopardized Wyoming’s natural heritage, they also threatened business.

“We need pristine, clear-running streams. It is very important to our business,” says Macye Lavinder Maher, the manager of Live Water Properties, a Jackson-based real estate office that specializes in fly-fishing property in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

Maher was actively involved in opposing the Wyoming Range lease sale. She says Live Water Properties routinely weighs in on land-use issues because of their potential impact on water quality and healthy fisheries.

“This [lease sale] was a case where public lands affect private land values,” Maher says. “The business community in Jackson was appalled—and I mean appalled—that the recreational opportunities in the Wyoming Range might be taken away both for what that would mean to business and for what it would mean for our quality of life.”

“Public lands serve many, many purposes,” says Jen Lamb, the public policy manager for the National Outdoor Leadership School, a Lander-based 20 million-dollar business that uses the Wyoming Range for its educational programs.

“The tourism and recreation industry is growing. Its influence is growing, but because it is so dispersed—many companies are small family organizations or they are run by people who are not traditionally joiners—they often don’t come together to weigh in on issues,” Lamb continues.

“I’m excited businesses are beginning to see they have a stake and a voice.”

The power of that voice lies in its ability to put a dollar value on the potential impacts of development. Conservationists have long struggled with this issue. The things we strive to protect: wildlife, clean air, clean water, and open land are difficult to quantify. But businesses can and do break things down into a matter of dollars and cents. For example, in a letter to the governor thanking him for his effort to help stop the Wyoming Range leases, 26 Jackson-area business owners wrote:

“In 2001, retail sales in Wyoming related to fishing totaled over $221 million. In that same year, the economic “output” (often called “ripple” or “multiplier” effect) due to fishing in Wyoming was over $326 million. In addition, fishing accounted for $60 million in wages and salaries, 3,395 jobs and over $9 million in sales and fuel taxes.”

The letter went on to quantify the income associated with wildlife watching, hunting, and other forms of outdoor recreation. These dollar signs spoke loudly. Gov. Freudenthal and Sen. Thomas wrote letters to the Forest Service opposing the lease sales until further research could be conducted into their impact. The opposition went up the line and ultimately, Hamilton’s decision was overruled by her boss.

“I think there is an evolution taking place,” says NOLS’ Lamb.

“We haven’t been that active in public land issues in the past for a couple of reasons,” she continues. “Number one, we did not have that many issues that affected our classrooms directly. And number two, we did not have adequate resources to conduct the necessary research…. But that is changing.

“The threats are real,” she concludes. “We are primarily educators, but we have to be advocates for our classrooms.”

The proposed lease areas in the Wyoming Range were what Lamb called a “direct hit” for the school. According to her, if you took an overlay of NOLS’ winter operating area—its classroom—and set it on top of a map of the leases, they mirrored each other.

“The Wyoming Range is an accessible area with good reliable snow in the winter,” Lamb says. “If we abandon this area, I can’t think of anything to replace it.”

The worry that outfitters have limited room, that oil and gas development on public lands has the potential to change the character and nature of Wyoming is not limited to Lamb. Courtney Skinner, a 68-year-old wilderness outfitter based in Pinedale, told a reporter for the Orange County Register that the lifestyle in the Upper Green River Valley has been “devastated.”

“Wyoming, up until this boom has been a recreation state, and certainly anything that affects that [outdoor-based] economy should be treated very carefully,” Skinner said.

There are some challenges to businesses such as Skinner’s or NOLS speaking out. These operators rely on permits to conduct business on the nation’s public lands and the potential for these permits to be revoked is very real.

“I rely on a Forest Service outfitting permit. If they pull that on me, I’m done,” says Jim Jones, the president and part-owner of High Country Flies, a retail and fly-fishing guide operation in Jackson. Not that Jones’ fear of reprisal kept him from acting. High Country Flies was one of the 26 businesses signing on to the governor’s letter, as were both NOLS and Live Water Properties.

“It is awkward to have a great relationship with the BLM for example, and then to go in and say we are protesting [one of their] actions,” NOLS’ Lamb says. “It is kind of like slapping your mother in the face.”

Businesses have weighed in on public lands issues for years. But the organization involved in the Wyoming Range protest was somewhat unprecedented. What made it so uncontroversial and easy for the business community to get involved was two-fold: one the Wyoming Range seemed like an obvious choice for preservation, and two, the conservation community—organizations like Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, and the Wyoming Outdoor Council—served as a catalyst, bringing business leaders together in a series of open houses in the Jackson area that were aimed at demonstrating just what was at stake if the leasing went forward.

“Is all development appropriate? Certainly not,” says Gov. Freudenthal’s Chief of Staff, Chris Boswell. “This year’s proposed oil and gas lease sales in the Wyoming Range should have been halted and were, at the governor’s and Sen. Thomas’ urging. It’s an area which is both accessible and rugged. It is heavily used by hunters in the fall, NOLS courses in the winter, anglers and campers in the summer. It is appropriate to weigh the benefits of minerals exploration in such an area versus the enormous tourism and recreation returns.”