GREEN RIVER -- The fishing is pretty good on Currant Creek on Little Mountain south of Rock Springs. The elk hunting on the mountain is even better.

Part of the reason is that the popular hunting and recreation area near the Flaming Gorge Reservoir has benefited from nearly $1.5 million in habitat restoration projects funded by various conservation groups, and state and federal agencies including the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Leasing for oil and gas development in the area could ruin all that hard work and threaten an area prized for is elk hunting, scenic values and trout fisheries, conservationists said last week.

Hunting and angling conservationists said they will submit formal protests Monday for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's planned Aug. 5 competitive oil and gas lease sale that includes some parcels on Little Mountain in southern Sweetwater County.

The competitive lease sale will offer approximately 169,000 acres for oil and gas leases, according to agency data.

Officials with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Trout Unlimited are seeking to set aside about 6,700 acres from the lease sale that are located on the west slope of Little Mountain within the Currant Creek drainage.

The parcels contain prime habitat for wildlife, excellent hunting, and streams and rivers that support many fish species, including the sensitive Colorado River cutthroat trout populations, said Dwayne Meadows, TRCP Wyoming field representative.

"We've gotten to the point where we're dedicating all of our public lands to a single development (energy)," Meadows said.

"It's not that we're against drilling ... it provides a lot of jobs, especially in Sweetwater County, but at the same time, we like to hunt and fish and we don't want to see everything end up looking like the Moxa Arch (gas) fields," he said.

Little Mountain has become the next battleground in the oil and gas energy boom enveloping southwest Wyoming -- primarily in the Pinedale Anticline and Jonah gas fields in northern Sweetwater and Sublette counties -- since Devon Energy Co. announced plans in December to conduct a two-well exploratory drilling project on the mountain.

A loose coalition of faith-based organizations, hunters, blue-collar workers, and Gov. Dave Freudenthal, panned the small wildcat project at the time and said it could lead to full-scale development of the popular recreation area.

The governor and others also decried a followup proposal by Devon in May for a three-dimensional seismic survey near Little Mountain as part of the exploratory well project.

Elk Hunt Area 31

The juniper woodland-laced Little Mountain supports thriving populations of elk and mule deer and is considered by some to be one of the premier hunting spots in the country.

The area is also home to streams that provide trout fisheries for the Colorado River cutthroat trout and other species.

Meadows said many of the 23 parcels under contention are located on the west slope of Little Mountain. The parcels include the headwaters of the middle and west forks of Currant Creek, the top of Washam Wash, parts of Wildhorse Draw, and checkerboard areas along Currant Creek as it enters the Flaming Gorge.

All of the parcels fall within the popular Elk Hunt Area 31 on Little Mountain, Meadows said.

"It's a limited quota region that represents one of those coveted desert tags we all put in for and usually never get," he said.

Cathy Purves, technical adviser with Trout Unlimited's Wyoming Chapter, said her group believes the parcels should not be offered because they are located within "unique and crucial" wildlife and fisheries habitat and key migration corridors.

"The BLM's own Green River Resource Management Plan specifically says to protect those areas they're looking at leasing," Purves said. "The bigger concern we all have is that this will be an infill and unitization ... and that Devon potentially is the one that will be buying those parcels down there."

Devon spokesman Chip Minty had no comment Friday on the protests or planned lease sale.

But Devon officials have maintained that drilling in the area can be conducted in an environmentally sensitive manner and without significant harm to wildlife and other recreational resources.

Officials said the company has met many times with various state, federal, and local officials while formulating their Little Mountain project plans.

Monday at 4 p.m. is the deadline for protests, according to the BLM's lease sale notice. Once the protests are received, the agency will make a decision to either withdraw the parcels or to proceed with offering the parcels at the sale.

Southwest Wyoming Bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.

NEWS TRACKER

Last we knew: The Bureau of Land Management scheduled a competitive oil and gas lease sale for Aug. 5 that includes some parcels on Little Mountain south of Rock Springs.

The latest: Several conservation groups said they will submit protests seeking to pull the Little Mountain parcels from the lease sale.

What's next: The agency will make a decision to either withdraw the parcels or proceed with offering them at the sale.