SPOTTED HORSE -- In the 1940s, Don Spellman was a boy growing up on the family ranch here in northern Campbell County. The place was covered with sage grouse. The ranch is dissected by Chicken Creek -- so named for the abundance of the showy game bird.

"This was the sage grouse capital," Spellman said. "When I was a kid, Mom would shoot a couple of sage grouse for lunch."

Spellman hasn't seen a single sage grouse on the ranch for two years. This is the same area where wildlife biologists Brett Walker and David Naugle surveyed sage grouse in 2003 and documented a massive die-off related to West Nile virus.

"Reduced survival due to the spread of (West Nile virus) is disturbing because habitat loss and degradation already stress sage-grouse populations throughout the species' range," Walker and Naugle wrote in the Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2004.

Naugle's continued research of sage grouse in the Powder River Basin, and in 2007 his peer-reviewed studies indicated that the standard density and pace of coal-bed methane development was devastating sage grouse populations here, "over and above those of habitat loss caused by wildfire, sagebrush control, or conversion of sagebrush to pasture or cropland."

Spellman doesn't hold out much hope that the sage grouse will make a return. New power poles erected to serve coal-bed methane wells are fixed with bars that prevent raptors from perching, but sage grouse intuitively avoid high structures. Before long, the power poles will be eclipsed by a massive new 230,000-volt transmission line being constructed by Basin Electric Power Cooperative.

Spellman said he understands that years of drought and a number of other land uses have had a cumulative impact on sage grouse populations throughout the West. Neither coal-bed methane development nor any other single factor is to blame alone, he said.

"I don't blame coal-bed methane for the sage grouse leaving, but they sure expedited it," Spellman said.

Keeping watch

The first wave of coal-bed methane activity came to the Spotted Horse area in 2002. Drilling renewed in earnest this summer, sparking a rush of coal-bed methane traffic on the Spellman ranch that quickly converted vague two-tracks into prominent roads leading to areas once only accessed by horseback.

Spellman estimates more than 50 vehicles come and go every day.

While bouncing over a rough road at about 10 a.m., Spellman took his fourth phone call of the day. It was someone who wanted to stake a coal-bed methane water reservoir, but Spellman said the reservoir hadn't been permitted yet. He has already seen several reservoirs constructed on state land sections that have never been used.

"I hate doing it, but it's like you got to hold something over their head," Spellman said.

Having coal-bed methane activity on his ranch requires a lot of baby-sitting. In August, Spellman spent two days and two nights in the mountains. When he returned home there were 14 phone messages about coal-bed methane activity waiting for him.

"You never know who is on your place," Spellman said.

Spellman tries to survey construction areas on the ranch a couple of times a week, searching drill pits for cattle and wildlife, noting where fences are left open. Spellman said that in his experience, some coal-bed methane developers are very responsive and fair to deal with. Some are less so.

Spellman is a member of the Northeast Wyoming Sage Grouse Working Group, which includes local land managers and company representatives. In his estimation, the collaboration is productive for all sides. The group shares information about specific areas and potential strategies for consolidating roads and pipelines, and encouraging quick reclamation using site-specific seed mixtures.

The experience inspired Spellman to establish a rotational grazing program to qualify under the Natural Resources Conservation Service. This fall, Spellman will begin installing new fences and watering tanks.

"The whole purpose is to improve the habitat," Spellman said. "I don't know if I'm fighting the coal-bed methane industry, but sooner or later they'll be gone."

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com.