GREEN RIVER - Tom Backstrom bagged his first deer on Little Mountain in 1978. The soda ash worker has hunted in the Currant Creek area of the mountain every year since.

Now he's worried energy development is threatening his beloved hunting area.

Those worries prompted the longtime union member to file one of the more than 100 protests to the Bureau of Land Management in late November on its plans to sell oil and gas leases in the Little Mountain area.

The protests caused the BLM to pull 13 parcels on Little Mountain from its Dec. 2 competitive oil and gas lease sale, pending a review of the protests' merits.

Backstrom's passion for the area, the public outcry in 2008, and the industry's ongoing interest in the area mean Little Mountain will continue to be at the forefront of the national energy debate in 2009.

"We're very much going to have to keep an eye (on Little Mountain), but we have one good thing going for us … the oil man is out of the White House," Backstrom said in an interview. "Now if we can just hold on until Jan. 20."

Little Mountain was thrust into the energy debate in late 2007 when the Oklahoma-based Devon Energy Co. announced plans to conduct a two-well exploratory drilling project near the mountain.

The area lies about 40 miles south of Rock Springs in Sweetwater County. Flanked by Flaming Gorge Reservoir to the west and Adobe Town to the east, it is home to several premier hunting areas for elk and deer, as well as sage grouse, Colorado River cutthroat trout and other wildlife.

The energy industry has shown interest in the Little Mountain area. Devon drilled a single exploratory gas well last summer and completed part of a three-dimensional seismic mapping project.

Devon plans to drill another exploratory well at a nearby site in 2009. The company also plans to complete the extensive seismic mapping project, which company officials say will help pinpoint the best drilling sites and reduce its environmental footprint.

Remaining huge

The BLM received 114 protests on its plan to sell oil and gas leases on Little Mountain during a competitive sale Dec. 2.

The protests prompted the agency to defer leasing 13 parcels, covering about 16,000 acres, on Little Mountain until a review of the protests can be conducted.

Conservationists, sportsmen, blue-collar workers and church-goers formed a loose coalition in 2008 to fight development on Little Mountain. Groups including the Wyoming Wildlife Federation and Trout Unlimited filed protests on BLM lease sales in August and December.

"I do think this issue will remain huge … I don't see it abating at all. In fact, I see it escalating in 2009," Wyoming Wildlife Federation executive director Walt Gasson said.

He said conservation groups hope to get a moratorium on oil and gas leasing on Little Mountain for a year under a new Obama administration.

"But I truly believe this isn't about the conservation groups, this is about the regular people and the families in Sweetwater County," Gasson said.

"It's those people that are going to make the difference, not the nonprofits. The people who care about that piece of country need to remain vigilant."

Devon officials said during a tour of their two wildcat drilling project sites on Little Mountain in October that they are taking the rights steps and measures to minimize their environmental impacts and will continue to do so in 2009.

Devon contends it can reduce its footprint on the mountain through proper planning, going the extra mile to protect resources, and spending the extra dollar.

Company officials said geology and technology, including the less intrusive horizontal drilling, will make any future play on Little Mountain unique and unlike the intense development of the Pinedale Anticline and Jonah gas fields to the north.

Devon spokesman Chip Minty said horizontal drilling allows for multiple wells to be drilled from a single well pad, thereby reducing the number of well pads, roads and equipment needed for development.

He said analysis of the data from the company's 3-D seismic mapping project and the core samples from the two wildcat wells should be available later this spring.

The new information should help Devon identify the best potential drilling locations and allow the company to drill the fewest wells with the least environmental impact.

Minty said Devon's future drilling plans on the mountain could be scaled back as the company re-evaluates all of its development opportunities in the wake of the recent credit crunch.

He noted, however, that Devon is in a "great position" financially - with low debt and a strong balance sheet - and should not be affected significantly in its drilling programs.

"In this Little Mountain area, like all other the fields, there is the likelihood the intensity of operations may even out, or even reduce a bit, to go with the flow of commodity prices," he said. "Devon has always taken a very conservative approach."

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