fbpx

Lands

Run the Red to Celebrate Wyoming Public Lands Day with Community Events in South Pass City

Posted on by John Burrows

Hundreds of runners from across the nation and their families, members of the public, speakers, and Tribal members will kick off the Wyoming Public Lands celebration on September 25 in South Pass City. This holiday recognizes the millions of acres of public lands in Wyoming that belong to everyone. The celebration coincides with Run the Red, where runners race across the desert, competing in half marathon, 50K, and 100K distances.

Gov. Mark Gordon in March 2019 signed legislation that recognized the fourth Saturday of each September as a day to celebrate the public lands that are central to Wyoming’s quality of life, economy and heritage. Wyoming was the third state in the country to declare a state public land’s day.  The public is encouraged to attend or simply get outside to enjoy a national forest, national monument, wildlife refuge, or any public land. 

Run the Red began in 2014 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the 30th anniversary of the Wyoming Wilderness Act. In 2019 the race was also coordinated to celebrate the inaugural Wyoming Public Lands Day. The event has grown over the years, starting with just 30 runners and growing to over 200 with multiple courses. Last fall, a short film from Patagonia further elevated the race to a national profile. Run the Red begins in the former gold mining community of South Pass City and takes runners through the Northern Red Desert — a maze of buttes, canyons, badlands, wilderness study areas, and miles of open country. Parts of the course even traverse the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails where some 500,000 emigrants traveled in search of new beginnings in the 1800s. 

In addition to the races, a series of tours, speakers, music, and food is planned for the day. Beginning at 6:30 a.m., a pancake breakfast will be served for volunteers and members of the public and numerous nonprofit organizations will be tabling including the Equality State Policy Center, Citizens for the Red Desert, Red Desert Audubon, and others. The bulk of the family and community events begin around 9:30 a.m., which include tours of the Carissa Mine and the Flood & Hindle Trails, a nature hike lead by ethnobotanist John Mionczynski, and an Oregon Trail presentation by Randy Weiss. Kids will also be able to enjoy gold panning, and a kids fun run will be held around 10:30 a.m. Two local food trucks — Hungry Buddha from Rock Springs and Monahooboo Hut from Wind River — will provide food options for the public and beer will be served by Square State Brewing from Rock Springs.

Big Wind Singers, a traditional drum group, and dancing by the Wind River Dancers will kick off the main celebration at noon. Following the cultural celebration, members of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes will speak about the cultural significance of the Red Desert and the meaning of their dance and song. Elected officials and state leaders have been invited to speak about the importance of public lands to all people. Music by Ten Cent Stranger begins at 2 p.m. and an old time piano and accordion performance by John Mionczynski will wrap up the celebration in the evening. The festivities are open to all. To see the full schedule of events, go to www.runthereddesert.com

The public lands lease system is broken. Let’s fix it.

Posted on by John Rader

THE PUBLIC LANDS LEASE SYSTEM IS BROKEN. LET’S FIX IT.

The federal oil and gas leasing program is deeply flawed. Outdated laws and policies have led to a wave of speculative leasing on public lands, threatening wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, and sacred cultural sites important to Indigenous peoples. Millions of acres across the West and in Wyoming are tied up in leases, but over half are sitting idle, without producing a drop of oil and gas. Thousands of leases have sold for rock bottom prices, short changing taxpayers. Sovereign Native American tribes have been routinely ignored, and opportunities for the public to weigh in on leasing have been inconsistent. 

Our May 2020 lease report detailed many of these concerns. Now, with the program under federal review, we consider several solutions in our 2021 report: Public Lands Lease Reform.

It’s time to update our antiquated leasing program, for the benefit of Wyoming and the American public. Check out this new report to find out how modernizing our century old oil and gas leasing program can generate more revenue for taxpayers, protect other important public resources, and ensure transparency and accountability in the leasing process.

See the full report below, or click to open it in a new window

Field Notes: February updates from the Wyoming Outdoor Council

Posted on by Alan Rogers
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.6.0″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.6.0″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.6.0″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default” width=”75%”]

NITRATE RULE SETBACK

In a disappointing move, the Teton District Board of Health declined to adopt a proposed rule that would alert residents when increasing levels of harmful nitrates are detected in drinking water. The rule, drafted by the Wyoming Outdoor Council and Protect Our Water Jackson Hole, would have required the county health department to notify the public when elevated levels of nitrates are detected in any of the county’s 114 public water systems and investigate the source of the pollution.

While this is an unfortunate delay, the residents of Teton County have made it clear that clean, safe drinking water should be a priority in their community. Together with our partners, the Outdoor Council will continue working with county officials to enact this important safeguard. 

OIL AND GAS LEASING

In late January, the Biden administration announced an executive order pausing new oil and gas leasing on public lands so the Department of the Interior can conduct a “rigorous review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands and waters.” 

The oil and gas industry is an important part of Wyoming’s economy and, when done properly, development has a place on our public lands. However, the federal leasing program is decades out of date. We’ll continue to push for common-sense leasing reforms that will place the many other uses and values of our public lands (like wildlife habitat, historic cultural sites, and outdoor recreation) on equal footing with development, while also ensuring a fair return for taxpayers. Importantly, we want to see an end to noncompetitive “over-the-counter” leases as well as leasing of lands with low potential for producing oil and gas.

 

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

A dream for the Red Desert

Posted on by Alan Rogers

It’s the heart of winter in Wyoming and, for many of us, it’s a favorite time of year. The days are short and the nights are cold, but the snow brings a quiet, peaceful stillness and lends a special beauty to everyday life. For some, that means skiing, snowmobiling or ice fishing. For others, hunkering down with a hot drink and good book or movie is the best way to enjoy the season. 

The midwinter weeks are also a time to take stock of the past year and plan for the one ahead. These days, a lot of us at the Wyoming Outdoor Council have been daydreaming about the Red Desert. 

The Red Desert is commonly described as the largest unfenced area in the Lower 48. While its size and remote nature are impressive in themselves, this doesn’t paint the full picture. The desert is truly unique, with sweeping views, thriving wildlife, and mind-bending geological features. The ruts of the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails crisscross land that has been used by Indigenous peoples since time immemorial. The few nondescript county roads meander to the horizon.

Even in Wyoming, it can be hard to believe a place this rugged still exists. But there is life here. Wildlife abounds, including elk, mule deer, and Greater sage-grouse. Ranchers run cattle, and many hunters, hikers, mountain bikers, and off-road enthusiasts consider the desert their best-kept secret. From the sand dunes, buttes, and badlands to the aspen oases and expanses of sagebrush, the Red Desert is as diverse as the people who care for it. 

For generations the Red Desert has sustained a way of life that is undeniably Western and provided opportunities for work, play, and quiet contemplation to anyone who seeks it. There is a balance that works, and we as Wyomingites have the power to uphold it. That’s why the Outdoor Council has spent years working to keep the desert the way it is — a working landscape rich with wildlife, history, and open space. 

In 2020, we joined together with like-minded people from all walks of life in Citizens for the Red Desert, a coalition of Wyoming citizens and organizations who love the desert. We also hired a new staff member, Shaleas Harrison, to coordinate the effort. The people in this group all have different reasons for taking part, but they recognize that there is a common ground when seeking to preserve all the diverse values and uses of the desert. 

While Citizens for the Red Desert is relatively new, the passion for the Red Desert is anything but. Wyoming residents first proposed that a portion of the desert be permanently protected as a winter game preserve in 1898, and in the century that followed, a host of other conservation efforts were considered. 

These public lands have seen relatively little new development in recent years. A patchwork of agency-level protections helps sustain the Red Desert elk herd, the White Mountain Petroglyphs, the sand dunes, and other values. But it is a tenuous balance that could easily unravel. Increasingly, dramatic shifts in federal land management priorities add an additional layer of uncertainty about the future. 

As Wyomingites, the Red Desert helps tell our story. Now, we want to tell the story of the desert. 

In the coming year the Outdoor Council will be working with citizen and tribal partners to chart the course to permanent protection of this special place — based on the existing framework that respects the full range of opportunities this land provides. For more than 130 years, Wyomingites have shown their support. An enduring, Wyoming-grown solution can make that dream a reality and keep the special values of the Red Desert intact for generations to come. 

Playing the long game for conservation policies that endure

Posted on by Lisa McGee

A change in federal administrations — and the policies that follow — is cause for either excitement or anxiety depending on how you voted. And for good reason: Elections have consequences. National policies affect our health, our economy, and our environment. And in Wyoming, where nearly half of the land is managed by the federal government, national policies have a disproportionate impact. 

Members of the Wyoming Outdoor Council fall all along the political spectrum. We agree to disagree on many issues, but find common ground when it comes to conservation. Conservation is not — and should not be — a partisan issue. 

From the standpoint of conservation and environmental justice, the legacy of the outgoing administration is dire. From climate change denial and the loosening of air and water quality safeguards to oil and gas leasing in areas important to Indigenous people and in crucial wildlife habitats, there have been more than 100 documented rollbacks to existing protections or short-sighted policies that threaten public health and our air, water, wildlife, and lands. 

Many of the administrative wins we celebrated over the last decade were among those rolled back. The fate of others — like the Bureau of Land Management’s methane waste prevention rule — remains uncertain as challenges are still working their way through the courts. And while there are some rules that the incoming administration will be able to restore and it will certainly abandon some public land policies like “energy dominance,” we’ve lost important ground. 

To be sure, the Outdoor Council looks forward to an incoming administration that is less hostile to our mission. At the same time, we are wary of ambitious campaign goals that don’t take Wyoming values into account. For example, in the urgency to transition away from fossil fuels, proposals for industrial-scale wind and solar development on public lands in Wyoming shouldn’t be rushed. Development should be encouraged in already disturbed areas so that, in our effort to mitigate climate impacts, we don’t harm intact habitat and our most cherished open spaces and public lands. 

And we’ll be careful not to rely too heavily on federal policy for solutions to the specific challenges we face in Wyoming. We don’t relish what has come to feel like a game of administrative ping-pong. 

Instead, what we strive for — regardless of who occupies the White House — are common-sense conservation initiatives and environmental policies that endure. Although incremental progress isn’t as newsworthy as sweeping change, we’re playing a long game. We’d much rather build on measured steps forward than have fleeting successes that can’t withstand the next election. 

What we strive for — regardless of who occupies the White House — are common-sense conservation initiatives and environmental policies that endure.

Assuming they work as promised, we support state-level initiatives. Past examples include  rules for detecting and fixing methane leaks in new and modified oil and gas fields and requiring baseline water testing before oil and gas drilling. We’ve also supported executive orders for sage-grouse conservation and big game migration corridors, although we continue to scrutinize their implementation.

And when we advocate for big policy solutions with the power to deliver conservation wins, we also champion strong public processes. We’re dedicated to empowering citizens in local communities to help craft lasting solutions. In the coming year we’ll build on the groundwork we laid in 2020 to seek consensus recommendations for large-scale renewable energy siting, support community-led climate change resolutions like the one recently adopted in Lander, and work with Tribal partners and other citizens toward permanent protection for parts of the incredible Northern Red Desert. 

Our approach to conservation keeps us grounded in Wyoming. This doesn’t mean that we are always successful. There are frequent setbacks, but it’s this approach that accounts for the conservation gains we’ve celebrated over the last 54 years. With your support, I’m confident we’ll continue this progress — not just in the coming year or coming four years, but for the long haul. 

Story behind the photo: “Thorofare” by Karinthia Harrison

Posted on by Claire Cella

You may not know it, but the image featured for the month of July in our 2020 calendar is a well-known view in these parts. The mule and two horses graze in the foreground of the most iconic views in Wyoming — Deer Creek Pass in the Thorofare, one of the truly last wild places in the lower 48. A few miles away from this point, at the southeastern edge of Yellowstone National Park, is the furthest you can get from any road, 20 miles. 

And this is the place that Karinthia Harrison feels most at peace, a place where “you can look out and just see endless country,” she said.

“And then,” she laughed, “I have to get to the other side.”

And she has, many, many times in some of the other wild, remote corners Wyoming has to offer — Buttercup Basin, Nipple Mesa, the top of Dead Indian Peak. Growing up on a ranch with her parents in Powell, Wyoming, Karinthia’s childhood was full of adventure — thanks to a father, Rick, who appreciated taking his children out into the mountains.

“Even just growing up on a farm,” Karinthia said, “you’re already connected to the land, the sunrises and sunsets. You work with your hands and you get used to manual labor. And then my dad always took us to do these rather extreme activities — we’d climb mountains, play in the rivers, we were always out hiking.”

And it stuck. Now, working as a nurse in the ER and ICU at West Park Hospital in Cody, Karinthia tries to do at least a long day trip into the wilderness every weekend, if not an overnighter.

These trips are often, if not always, aided by and shared with the quick-witted, strong company of mules and horses. After a lifetime of riding, she has a strong connection to them, even if “you sometimes need to cuss at them,” she admitted.

“But then you just have to laugh at them,” she followed. “They are my companions out there. They take care of me on the ride, and then when we get to camp, you take care of them. That was something I was taught by my dad: ‘You don’t get to eat or drink a beer until they’re taken care of.’”

She also loves the personality they bring to the trail, watching them figure out their way, whether that’s the route they take or the order they’ll stand in. And what they make possible. “I love that I can go out for six or seven days, and I can eat steak and salmon, and drink wine and beer. I am in the mountains, yes, but sometimes it’s nice to have a little luxury out there.”

On the particular trip when Karinthia snapped the photo on her exit from the Thorofare, she, her then-fiancee, now-husband Phil and four friends packed up a collection of 13 horses and mules and started on the trail at Ishawooa Creek, which lies up the South Fork near Cody and in the Shoshone National Forest. They traveled over 60 miles in six days, swam in rivers, spent a layover day in Silvertip, crossed mountain passes and descended dramatic creek basins, spotted cranes and wolves and a host of other wildlife, and came back out through the Washakie Wilderness on Deer Creek Trail.

Along with mules and horses, Karinthia also loves to share the mountain experience with friends and was grateful for the opportunity to bring the group back into this awe-inspiring landscape. “I want them to experience what I love experiencing, to get that appreciation,” she says. “But, I always let them know how hard it’s going to be, that we’re going to get very sore in the saddle, we’re going to have to walk, that we’ll take our only baths in rivers, that we’ll need to wake up and prep our animals every morning.”

“But, it’s so rewarding. It’s like what my dad used to tell me on the top of a mountain, he’d say, ‘You know what Tink [his nickname for her], just think, you’ve been to places, to mountaintops, that other people have never experienced.’”

She loves that wildness about Wyoming, and always has. That’s why she moved back to Cody after living and working for a couple of years in Alaska — which, while beautiful and rugged, was too inaccessible for her, requiring a plane or a boat to get to some locations.

“And I think Wyoming is the most beautiful state,” she said. “Really. You have such a diversity of ecosystems — the desert, the mountains, the wilderness.”

And she’s recently become more involved in helping to keep Wyoming this way.

“My dad, with his farming schedule, didn’t have time to be a part of committees or conversation groups, but now, I see these groups as being so important to Wyoming and keeping the state rooted in this way of life. And just because of how I was raised, and what we did, I can’t help but want to try to protect it, to keep it pure, natural, and full of wildlife.”

Karinthia said she contributes to the Wyoming Wilderness Association (where her sister Shaleas formerly worked as a community organizer), Wyoming Wildlife Federation, Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation, and Wyoming Outdoor Council. She was also part of the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative, representing Park County on behalf of the local citizens, was recently elected to be on the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission’s chronic wasting disease working group, and has applied to be a part of the Cody conservation district. It’s hard to fit it all in with her full-time nursing schedule, but she recognizes how important it is. 

“I might not have had a choice in it when I was younger and with my dad,” she laughed, “but now, it’s just become part of who I am and what I love.”

Join Karinthia and other photographers by submitting your own shot of Wyoming for the Outdoor Council’s 2021 Calendar Contest. You can enter your photos via Instagram or email. To submit your photo(s) via Instagram, you must have a public Instagram account so that we’re able to view your submission. Upload your photo(s) and add the hashtag #OurWyoming.

To submit your photo(s) via email, send your photo(s) to claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

For more information about the contest, visit our calendar contest page.

A federal land use plan may have drastic impacts on southwest Wyoming. Here’s how to prepare.

Posted on by John Rader

For almost 10 years, we’ve been waiting for the release of the Bureau of Land Management’s draft Rock Springs Resource Management Plan. The release is imminent, the field office announced earlier this summer, but we’ve come to expect delays.

So why is this plan so important? Because it will determine how 3.6 million acres of public lands in southwestern Wyoming are managed for decades to come. This includes the Northern Red Desert, Greater Little Mountain, South Pass and parts of the Oregon Trail, Adobe Town, Devil’s Playground, and the Golden Triangle, as well as the southern portion of the Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration corridor. Based on recent land use decisions from across the West, we anticipate the Rock Springs plan will sacrifice the hunting and fishing, recreation, wildlife, and cultural values of these lands to facilitate more oil and gas leasing. 

The Wyoming Outdoor Council requested the BLM postpone the plan’s release until the COVID-19 pandemic no longer posed a roadblock to public participation. Other groups made similar requests, including the Sweetwater County Board of Commissioners, but the agency appears to be proceeding. 

So what can you do?

  • WATCH FOR UPDATES FROM US. We’ll let you know how and when to take action. If you don’t already receive our email alerts, now is a great time to sign up. We’ll also share information on our social media channels.
  • SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT WHEN THE TIME COMES. Wyoming citizens who know and love these areas — not just appointed federal officials — should have a say in how they’re managed. The 90-day public comment period is your opportunity. We’ll offer you suggestions on how to craft an informative, personal message.
  • SPREAD THE WORD. Effecting changes to the draft will require the full support of all the people who care for this vast and varied part of Wyoming. Not everyone who hunts, hikes, horse packs, or off-roads in these areas will know what is at stake. Forward our emails to friends and family, encourage others to submit a public comment, write a letter to the editor or to the governor, or talk to your county commissioner.

Story behind the photos: “Lincoln’s sparrow” and “Marmot” by Sean McKinley

Posted on by Claire Cella

“I’m done,” said Sean McKinley with an honest laugh. “I’ve found myself. I’m tired of cities and people.”

When he says done, he means living anywhere but Wyoming. And when he says he’s found himself, he means behind a lens. And when he says he’s tired of cities and people, that does not include animals.

“I have a huge soft spot for animals,” Sean said as he described his childhood growing up on a ranch in Buffalo — where peacocks, rabbits, sheep, pigs, bison, and a younger Sean roamed. He said his father was instrumental in helping nurture this appreciation for the creatures that humans share the world with. As an adult, his persistent adoration for wildlife has translated into a rewarding personal photography business, Hidden Wilderness Photography, which he runs on the side while also working full-timeas a computer programmer.

Two images Sean captured — and that we chose for the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s 2020 calendar — hint, too, at Sean’s incredible patience with and ceaseless fascination for the animal world. They also point to his ability to reverse the common idiom and see a single tree in the forest, to his benefit. 

Take his shot of a Lincoln’s sparrow perched amidst the textured, muted mauve of a willow thicket. It had been an early morning for Sean and his fiance as they awoke in Yellowstone National Park and set out to find the wildlife that also tends to wander about at dawn. Near Barronett’s Peak, Sean sighted two black bears on a distant hill playfully chasing each other and he set up his camera. And waited. And waited.

“I was hoping the bears would come closer, but they just continued to move in and out of the treeline. At a certain distance, you just can’t get a reasonably artistic photo. Then, because other people had started to gather after seeing my big lens, the bears eventually noticed and wandered off,” he recalls. “And I was about to pack up my camera, but decided to look around in the willows in front of me. And there, not feet from me, was this little Lincoln’s sparrow in the willows, and he looked right at me, and I pressed the shutter.”

He was surprisingly pleased with the photo of the little guy. “A happy happenstance,” he would call it. He particularly loved the cold blue feel, caused by the early sunlight and the overcast sky, of this photo we selected for February in the calendar.

A photo of a male marmot, which we included in November, was a similar story of patience and attention to detail. Sean and his fiance had again ventured off into Yellowstone behind Pebble Creek Campground at the far end of Lamar Valley — this time with their hopes set on finding a rumored fox den hidden among the granite boulder outcroppings. But instead, they came upon a colony of marmots. (Sean and his fiance, admittedly, have an affinity for rodents.) They decided to hang out and watch to see if any baby marmots would come out since they had never seen one before. The only marmot who made his presence known was a large male, though, who they assumed was tending to and protecting his brood. For minutes, they sat and watched this male dart in and out of the series of tunnels the marmots had built behind the rock. Frequently, the male would pause and stare them down, and that’s when Sean captured this shot. “There’s some personality there, for sure,” he chuckled. Sean and his fiance left soon after that, following the principles that Sean upholds when taking his photographs.

“I like to keep a respectable distance, and I like to think that I have an ethical approach. I never like to think that I’m invading an animal’s personal space just to get ‘the shot.’” he said. “And that’s why I pay way too much money for really large lenses.”

Sean started photographing his wild surroundings when he was about 14 and his family took their first trip to Yellowstone. Animals abounded, he remembers, and he was so disappointed he didn’t have his own camera to document all the creatures he saw. On the way home, his family stopped in Billings and bought him his first camera. The rest is history, with a little break in his late teens and early twenties. What sparked him to pick the camera back up again was another trip to Yellowstone and the wildlife within. Again, he returned to his then home in Portland, Oregon, and immediately purchased a new camera and a big lens.

Sean now lives in Worland and has been back in Wyoming for about four years after living “all over” in the Pacific Northwest. He decided to come back when he was “done” and wanted to reacquaint himself with the depth of the outdoors that he grew up with. “I think Wyoming is the most beautiful state in the union, and it’s accessible. And it’s appreciated. And it’s not overpopulated.”

Beyond his photography, he does what he can to support conservation efforts in the state, too, donating to nonprofits like Yellowstone Forever. He said it’s really important for him to see the state’s public lands remain public and accessible, and not become carved up by private interests. And he hopes his wildlife photography does a little of that work, too, showing people that this isn’t just a human world but that there’s much more out there. That there are animals, too, who depend upon the land.

“I hope my photos help cultivate a sense of respect and the idea that this is something we need to protect,” he said.

Join Sean and other photographers by submitting your own shot of Wyoming for the Outdoor Council’s 2021 Calendar Contest. You can enter your photos via Instagram or email. To submit your photo(s) via Instagram, you must have a public Instagram account so that we’re able to view your submission. Upload your photo(s) and add the hashtag #OurWyoming.

To submit your photo(s) via email, send your photo(s) to claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

For more information about the contest, visit our calendar contest page.

Governor tours the Red Desert with citizens group and Outdoor Council staff

Posted on by Steff Kessler

Gov. Mark Gordon spent Thursday, June 11, visiting Wyoming’s iconic Northern Red Desert for a firsthand look at one of the state’s wildest landscapes. The tour was organized by the Wyoming Outdoor Council and our partners to familiarize the governor and his staff with some of the most beautiful and treasured corners of the desert as well as introduce him to citizens representing a variety of interests who value, work in and recreate on this important landscape. Many representatives of Citizens for the Red Desert, a grassroots group, also participated in the trip.

The Northern Red Desert contains nationally-significant cultural and ecological resources, including the greatest concentration of Bureau of Land Management wilderness study areas in Wyoming, crucial winter range and migration corridors for mule deer, pronghorn, and a rare desert elk herd, North America’s largest living sand dunes, historic trails including the Oregon and Pony Express National Historic Trails, and indigenous cultural sites including petroglyphs, buffalo jumps, and other respected places. It is a vast landscape that offers a range of potential for outdoor recreation and hunting, supports ranching, and is considered the largest unfenced area in the Lower 48.

The tour was designed to provide the governor an overview of these special values. Along the way, the governor visited sites such as Whitehorse Creek and the dramatic Honeycomb Buttes wilderness study areas; visited with local rancher Jim Hellyer and his family; heard about the Oregon Trail and westward expansion from Todd Guenther, a Central Wyoming College professor and historian; and met with Rick Lee, director of the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce and Bobbi Wade, a local outfitter, to discuss outdoor recreational opportunities. Jason Baldes, an Eastern Shoshone tribal member and the tribal buffalo coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation accompanied the trip to highlight the history of indigenous use and current tribal values within this landscape. John Mionczynski, an ethnobotanist and expert on the desert provided additional background on the ecology, geology and history.

Bobbi Wade, a local outfitter, discusses outdoor recreation at Chicken Springs.

The wildlife values of this landscape were in constant view, and the connection of this Red Desert habitat to what’s known as the “Golden Triangle” to the north along the Wind River Front — so named for its wealth of big game and sage-grouse populations — was highlighted by wildlife experts on the trip. Lauren Heerschap, with WyoClimbers and a Wyoming Outdoor Council board member, also shared information about the value of this landscape as the recreational scenic gateway for national and international climbers accessing renowned climbs in the Wind River Range.

Jason Baldes, an Eastern Shoshone tribal member and the tribal buffalo coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation, discusses the historical significance of the Red Desert to indigenous and current tribal members.

John Mionczynski discusses the Red Desert’s fascinating geological history in front of the Honeycomb Buttes.

The Outdoor Council is tremendously grateful for the governor’s time to take this trip, and we and others benefited from the questions and perspectives he and his natural resource and energy staff shared with us. Gov. Gordon engaged in thoughtful conversations throughout the tour, and was obviously seeking to understand this diverse landscape and the perspectives presented. 

The Red Desert is largely comprised of public lands managed by the BLM. This agency revises its management directives about every 20 years through a public planning process resulting in a resource management plan. The Red Desert’s fate is currently under debate due to the ongoing revision of the BLM’s Rock Springs Resource Management Plan, which will determine how 3.6 million acres of public lands, including the Red Desert, will be managed over the coming decades. Recent plan revisions from elsewhere across the West have stripped designations that protect wildlife habitat, cultural sites, and more.

It is our hope that through the direct experience of this landscape, and his conversations with people who cherish it, Gov. Gordon will see that the Northern Red Desert is a national treasure worth protecting — a place beloved by a diversity of Wyomingites for its many values and uses and deserving of a BLM management plan that will ensure its special values remain for future generations.

Gov. Mark Gordon stands with members of the tour while visiting the Northern Red Desert on June 11.

Public Lands Lease Report: Wild Speculation in Wild Places

Posted on by John Rader

While local governments, businesses, and individuals wrestle with the impacts of coronavirus, public lands leasing to the oil and gas industry continues unabated. But this irresponsible federal leasing in Wyoming started well before the pandemic. In recent years, the Bureau of Land Management has drastically ramped up the amount of acreage available for leasing. Hundreds of thousands of acres of public land in Wyoming — including some of our most cherished landscapes and wildlife habitat — have been auctioned for development, with many parcels going for bargain basement prices.

The BLM is required to manage public lands for “multiple use,” balancing a wide range of activities and uses on our public lands — from outdoor recreation to wildlife habitat, preservation of historic and cultural sites, livestock grazing, industrial uses, and more. But today, over a third of all federal public lands in Wyoming are already leased to oil and gas companies for development. At a national level, 90 percent of BLM lands are available for leasing and new federal resource management plans across the West are opening up even more lands to industry, putting recreation and wildlife at risk. 

At the Wyoming Outdoor Council, we wonder where the balance is — and why our exceptional wildlife, outdoor recreation, and historical and cultural resources are being ignored.

That’s why we’re publishing a two-part report on the management of public lands in Wyoming, which includes infographics, photos, and interactive maps so you can better understand what’s at stake. 

Part I, which we’re releasing today, focuses on speculative oil and gas leasing in Wyoming. Specifically, we touch on the scale of leasing in Wyoming, where leases are located, and what resources they are impacting.

Part II, which we’ll publish along with the release of the long-awaited BLM draft resource management plan for the Rock Springs field office, will focus on this plan.- The RMP will dictate the management of millions of acres of public land in Wyoming for decades to come. The region includes treasured places like the Red Desert and irreplaceable wildlife habitat like the Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration corridor and the Golden Triangle.

READ THE REPORT HERE