JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau | Posted: Saturday, June 23, 2007 12:00 am
ROCK SPRINGS - On a hot, late August day in 1900, Robert LeRoy Parker, aka Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry and other members of the Wild Bunch robbed a Union Pacific train at Tipton, about 20 miles west of the present-day town of Wamsutter.
It wasn't the gang's best effort, as there was only $50 and change on the train.
After the robbery, the notorious gang fled south into the badlands of Adobe Town, which they often used as a hideout for fresh horses.
The animals were easy to conceal amidst the area's towering cliffs, hoodoos, spires and unique rock and pinnacle formations.
A century later, the same place that served as a refuge for one of the West's most enduring outlaws is nearly as pristine today as it was when the Wild Bunch followed the old Outlaw Trail through it, promoters of an effort to protect the area say.
It's those historic ties, combined with the area's incredible scenery, spectacular formations, world-class fossils and desert wildlife, that make Adobe Town ideal for special protections.
Adobe Town meets all the criteria and attributes necessary for the special state designation, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance officials believe.
The Laramie-based Alliance presented its case for protecting Adobe Town, located in southwest Wyoming's Sweetwater County, to Wyoming's Environmental Quality Council during a meeting Thursday in Rock Springs.
The EQC has the authority to make such a designation under the Wyoming Environmental Quality Act, said council chairman Richard Moore.
The Alliance petitioned the council in November 2006 to consider designating the area's approximately 180,000 acres because it contains exactly those rare or uncommon features, said Biodiversity executive director Erik Molvar.
Those features include geological formations, abundant fossil resources, historical and prehistoric sites, rare and sensitive wildlife habitat, and scenic values comparable to or eclipsing existing national parks.
Adobe Town is located on mostly public lands about 25 miles southwest of Wamsutter in eastern Sweetwater County. The area for consideration includes some state lands and some checkerboard lands with private property.
About 85,000 acres of Adobe Town was designated by the Bureau of Land Management as a wilderness study area, which prohibits surface mining and future oil and gas leasing in the area.
Conservationists, area union members and others share concerns about the level and pace of oil and gas and coalbed methane development that could occur in the area.
They contend the area's landscapes, trophy antelope hunting and primitive habitat are worthy of special protections in the face of proposed development that could bring up to 15,000 new oil and gas wells to the area.
Energy industry officials, however, have said the drilling in the area can be done in an environmentally sensitive manner, without significant harm to wildlife and other recreational resources. They contend areas such as the Red Desert provide stability for job growth and a stable revenue source, and helps the country be less dependent on foreign oil.
Completely unique
Molvar urged the council to consider a designation described by the EQC as "very rare or uncommon" designation for the Adobe Town area, which he said was "tailor-made" for it.
"Adobe Town is completely unique … there's nothing like it in the state and it's as rare as anything possibly can be," Molvar told council members.
"There's no more fragile landscape in Wyoming than Adobe Town … it's got an amazing array of spectacular geological features and almost a Dr. Seuss-type of landscape," he said.
"The entire viewshed is in a native, natural state and includes formations on a magnificent scale … there is truly a grandeur and awesomeness about it," said Molvar. "And it's probably the best place in the state for viewing wild horses. But the landscape is very easily scarred and once scarred, it will take centuries to heal."
Craig Thompson, a former EQC member and a environmental sciences instructor at Western Wyoming College, noted the majority of the Adobe Town landscape has been shaped solely by wind and water and that the stream systems in the area have never really been studied. "The whole area is a scientific treasure trove deserving of protections," he said.
John McDonald, BLM assistant manager for the Rock Springs field office, said his agency supports the designation only within the 85,000-acre Wilderness Study Area in Adobe Town.
"The BLM recognizes Adobe Town really is a special place and perhaps most importantly, it provide solitude," he said. But "due to potential and real conflicts with existing mineral lease rights and private landowners, we support the petition for the existing (wilderness study area) only."
Wyoming Stock Growers Association Vice-President Jim Magagna worried that the petition "may preclude many of the uses of private lands in that checkerboard area."
He said he'd like the EQC to complete an assessment on what the "very rare or uncommon" designation might mean for private landowners.
Southwest Wyoming Bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.