JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau | Posted: Saturday, July 8, 2006 12:00 am
GREEN RIVER - A sportsmen's group is joining the growing call to halt leasing and drilling in the Wyoming Range in western Wyoming.
Officials with the Wyoming Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife are proposing to form a sportsmen's coalition to work with landowners, oil and gas industry officials, and state and federal agencies to help protect wildlife resources in the Wyoming Range.
"We can have both world-class wildlife and an economically viable mineral industry," Bob Wharff, executive director of Wyoming SFW, said in a release.
"However, (our group) believes that we should cease adding additional leases on Forest Service lands in the Wyoming Range and forestall any drilling on forest lands until we can be collectively assured that our combined activities are not furthering the decline of big game populations," he said.
Wharff said too often wildlife resources, including mule deer and other big game get overlooked when oil and gas leasing decisions are made.
He said his group has concerns about several controversial energy leases in the Wyoming Range in western Wyoming that were recently auctioned off by the Bureau of Land Management.
In early June, the BLM held a lease sale for 13 parcels on about 12,000 acres in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. At the time, The lease sale was opposed by Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a variety of conservationists and local labor representatives.
Wharff said Wyoming hunters have for years expressed their concerns over mule deer populations, which he said continue to struggle in areas like the Wyoming Range at levels well below their population objectives.
"(We) believe that it is unfair to lay the blame of struggling big game populations solely on the oil and gas industry," Wharff said.
"However, we also recognize that concurrent energy development of winter, summer and transitional ranges in conjunction with increasing numbers of large, uncontrolled predators, loss of habitat due to increased human development for housing … will only worsen the plight of Wyoming's big game populations," he said.
Energy industry officials have said that drilling in the area can be done in an environmentall sensitive manner and without significant harm to wildlife and other recreational resources. Theycontend that drilling in areas such as the Wyoming Range provides stability for job growth, provides the state with a stable revenue source and helps the country be less dependent on foreign oil for energy production.
Wharff said the Wyoming Range is an important enough area to warrant "further review of the accumulative impacts" that is limiting the recovery of big game populations.
Wharff is proposing that a sportsmen's coalition be formed to work with the various agencies to "identify, monitor, and address factors which affect wildlife and to seek effective means of mitigation or best management practices which minimize the impacts to Wyoming's wildlife."
Southwest Wyoming Bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearinotrib.com.