Faced with yet another request for public comment on yet another important environmental issue, you might wonder, does one comment really make a difference?

The answer is yes. Just within the last year, the public has tipped the balance toward conservation on a number of important issues, including protecting roadless areas in the Wyoming Range, and ensuring that parts of the Red Desert remain undeveloped. Things don’t always turn out the you’d hope, but your voices do make a difference.

From handwritten letters to brief emails, public comments can provide the extra pressure needed to persuade land managers to do the right thing. They are an example of democracy in action. They are your chance to let decision-makers know how to better manage your special hiking trail in the Wyoming Range or your favorite fishing and hunting spots in the Shoshone National Forest.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council fights for your right to comment on important decisions. We believe that land managers make better decisions when informed by public comments. The Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and the National Park Service merely manage public lands. You own them. Therefore, you deserve—and are guaranteed by law—a role in deciding how they are run. We are committed to protecting and enforcing the laws that give you that right. And we encourage you to fully exercise it.

Public participation can have significant results. Public comments and public pressure helped delay oil and gas leasing in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, saving thousands of acres of roadless areas in the Wyoming Range. Thousands of voices, including Wyoming Outdoor Council members, Wyoming citizens and others, were heard in the offices of Forest Service decision-makers and other elected representatives. Gov. Freudenthal and Sen. Thomas may not have asked the Bridger-Teton to delay leasing until further environmental analysis was completed without knowing the public supported their position.

The tens of thousands of public comments on the Jack Morrow Hills Coordinated Activity Plan also had a beneficial effect. Your voice, together with many others, helped put this extraordinary area “on the map” both with BLM and the public. The thousands of letters received by the BLM, ensured that wilderness and wildlife values could not be ignored in a rush to develop oil and gas.

There are significant flaws in the Jack Morrow Hills Coordinated Activity Plan, flaws that seem to fly in the face of public opinion, which can be frustrating. The Wyoming Outdoor Council is protesting the plan because of these flaws, but we are still encouraged by the good things the BLM did include. To us, they represent the fact that the BLM did listen to public concerns.

For example, the final plan expands protections around Steamboat Mountain Area because of its importance to elk, and it closes a large area of critical wildlife habitat to future oil and gas leasing. Your comments made this possible.

Ensuring special places receive the protection they deserve often comes down to what environmentalist Brock Evans has counseled: it’s a matter of “endless pressure endlessly applied.”

Keep up the pressure!