"In these times of opportunity to produce minerals and income from the land, we have the ability to do it on terms which protect this area. The alternative is so grave that I cannot contemplate our not doing so." - Jamie Burgess, Cora
Programs - Red Desert - Great Divide
The
Great Divide Basin is the only place where
the Continental Divide splits and rejoins, creating a 2.5 million
acre basin
where the water
remains rather than flowing into the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans.
Its boundaries extend from Steamboat Mountain on its west to
the city of
Rawlins and the Haystack Mountains on its east and from the Ferris
Mountains on its north to Adobe Town on its south. The area is
also ecologically a part of the Red Desert. Click here to
see an expanded photo map of
the basin.
The Great Divide Basin is the essence of what westerners cherish:
'open space.' However this land is much more than open space;
the vast expanse is sparkling with jewels of nature. These include,
but
are not limited
to, the areas suggested for new or expanded Wilderness Study
Areas (WSAs) or Areas of Critical Environmental Concern
(ACECs) status by
the Western
Heritage Alternative (see below).
Is
it the Great Divide or Rawlins Resource Management
Plan? While the Great Divide is a geographic
area, until recently
the BLM used the name of this definitive geographic
feature for the Resource Management Plan that
covered a larger region. In fact, the existing
resource management plan is named The Great Divide
Resource Management Plan. However, this plan is being updated
and in that process BLM decided to rename it The Rawlins
Resource Management Plan. Ostensibly, this was done as part
of a statewide process to redraw some of the BLM management
areas and perhaps to avoid confusion since the name "Great
Divide" is sometimes loosely applied to areas in southeastern
Wyoming outside of the split of the Continental Divide that
creates the Great Divide Basin.
Others have suggested that
a compelling reason for the BLM to change the name of this
expansive region, which is dominated by the Great Divide
Basin, to the name of the Rawlins Resource Management Area,
is part of a trend to label it with a more mundane name that
would trigger less interest from the public. Other examples
of misnomers within the Great Divide Area would include the
Desolation Flats Natural Gas Field Development Project. Desolation
Flats is a name penned by industry for an area adjacent to
the magical Adobe Town, an area anything but desolate. However,
the majesty of the landscapes contained within the area speaks
for itself.
Please Volunteer to help work towards a balanced conservation
of the Great Divide's wilderness quality lands.
Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs)
In 1976 the BLM began a wilderness review in accordance with the Federal Land Policy And Management Act (FLPMA). Wilderness Inventories were conducted and identified areas to be recommended as Wilderness. The standards, taken from the 1991 Wyoming Wilderness Study Report Statewide Overview, used to evaluate these wilderness quality areas are that they, "generally appear to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable: have outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; have at least 5,000 acres of land or is sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and may also contain ecological, geological or other features of scientific, education, scenic or historic value. In addition, each WSA was further evaluated for its multiple use value for other purposes such as mining, grazing or timber harvest."
These Wilderness Study Areas were designated by Federal land-management agencies (the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, National Park Service, or the Fish and Wildlife Service) as having wilderness characteristics, later recommending which ones were worthy of consideration by Congress for wilderness designation.
While Congress considers whether to designate a Wilderness Study Area (WSA) as
permanent wilderness, the Federal agency managing the WSA does so in a manner
as to prevent impairment of the area's suitability for wilderness designation
until Congress makes a decision to either designate the areas as wilderness or
to release the areas for non-wilderness management. Wyoming turned in such recommendations
in 1992 to President Bush and Congress. So far Congress has taken no action to
change the WSAs' status. The BLM has acknowledged the merit of some of the additional
areas that citizens have brought to the BLM as deserving of WSA status. Recently
however, the process has been put on hold due to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's
directive to abandon the handbook for designating any further WSAs.
Citizen Proposed Wilderness Study Areas and Expansions within the Great Divide
Resource Area (from the Western
Heritage Alternative - 520KB pdf)
Adobe Town
The Haystacks
Willow Creek Rim
Powder Rim
East Fork Point Wild Cow Creek
Ferris Mountains
Pedro Mountains
Bennett Mountains
Prospect Mountain
Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs)
An Area of Critical Environmental Concern is defined in Great Divide Resource Area Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan of 1990 as,
"An area within the public lands designated for special management attention to protect and prevent irreparable damage to important historic, cultural, or scenic values, fish and wildlife resources, or other natural systems or processes, or to protect life and safety from natural hazards."
The definition of ACECs does not dictate the level of protection. Therefore this special designation is only as strong as the resource management plan that creates it.
Programs - Red Desert - Great Divide
Is
it the Great Divide or Rawlins Resource Management
Plan? While the Great Divide is a geographic
area, until recently
the BLM used the name of this definitive geographic
feature for the Resource Management Plan that
covered a larger region. In fact, the existing
resource management plan is named The Great Divide
Resource Management Plan. However, this plan is being updated
and in that process BLM decided to rename it The Rawlins
Resource Management Plan. Ostensibly, this was done as part
of a statewide process to redraw some of the BLM management
areas and perhaps to avoid confusion since the name "Great
Divide" is sometimes loosely applied to areas in southeastern
Wyoming outside of the split of the Continental Divide that
creates the Great Divide Basin. 
Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs)
While Congress considers whether to designate a Wilderness Study Area (WSA) as
permanent wilderness, the Federal agency managing the WSA does so in a manner
as to prevent impairment of the area's suitability for wilderness designation
until Congress makes a decision to either designate the areas as wilderness or
to release the areas for non-wilderness management. Wyoming turned in such recommendations
in 1992 to President Bush and Congress. So far Congress has taken no action to
change the WSAs' status. The BLM has acknowledged the merit of some of the additional
areas that citizens have brought to the BLM as deserving of WSA status. Recently
however, the process has been put on hold due to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's
directive to abandon the handbook for designating any further WSAs. 
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