IMAGINE THIS: It’s spring in Wyoming’s Red Desert, and daybreak unfolds around you. As the sun crests the horizon and illuminates mile upon mile of open sagebrush country, the songbirds’ dawn chorus reaches its crescendo. Sage thrashers and Brewer’s sparrows sing their hearts out. At intervals, the resonant “wups” of displaying Greater sage-grouse join in. Far in the distance, bands of mule deer amble along a well-worn game trail, browsing their way towards summer pasture as the snows recede. A pair of ferruginous hawks wheel overhead in the brightening sky.
It’s a scene that has played out largely unchanged for millenia. Whether today, 100 years ago, or 10,000 years ago, people have experienced the vastness and natural bounty of the Red Desert. These days, as wildlife and the lands they rely on are increasingly whittled into the margins, fewer and fewer places on Earth can offer the same. The Red Desert’s immense territory of sagebrush is a precious thing, supporting groups of species you can’t find many places in North America anymore. It is worth our time and toil to keep it whole and healthy for those who come after us.
Thankfully, we have a brief opportunity to make a big impact. With the revision of the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan by the Bureau of Land Management, the managers who oversee land use in the Red Desert are reassessing everything. The agency will carefully weigh public comments as it decides how best to manage these lands for decades to come. If we want to uphold the Red Desert’s extraordinary wildlife legacy, now is the time to speak up in favor of management directives that will help conserve the area’s exceptional natural resources.
Image: Ken Driese
The BLM is choosing between management actions that will make a real difference to the wildlife that depend on these lands for their survival. Whether you want to see the world’s longest mule deer migration persist, provide desert elk with safe birthing grounds, ensure better nest success for hawks and eagles, or see the most densely populated Greater sage-grouse habitat on the planet protected, your input during this process is critical. With foresight and careful management, generations of people and animals yet to come will be able to experience the Red Desert much the same as those who came before. The opportunity to make that careful, balanced management a reality is here — and it is up to us to speak to the values we hold dear on this landscape.
In Wyoming’s Red Desert, the necessity of truly big-picture, holistic thinking around conservation advocacy is on full display. For one, it’s home to big game herds that require intact habitat throughout the length of migration corridors that span hundreds of miles. For another, it’s a place that has been stewarded by people for millennia, whose descendents are still here — and whose voices are critical for any conversations about how this land should be managed.
While obstacles to this kind of big-picture thinking are many, the sheer scale of the landscape presents a unique challenge: At more than a half-million acres, how do you wrap your mind around an area the size of the Red Desert?
Recently, Tribal Engagement Coordinator Big Wind Carpenter worked with EcoFlight, a Colorado-based organization, to share a bigger-picture perspective of the desert … from high above, in a small 6-seater propeller plane!
During the flights, Big Wind narrated a loop over the Red Desert for Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho elders, pointing out many of the cultural resources that hold special significance for more than a dozen Tribes with connections to the land. We sat down with Big Wind to hear about their work with EcoFlight and to learn what insights might be gained from taking to the skies.
[Interview edited for length and clarity.]
Images: EcoFlight
You’ve been sharing the values of the Red Desert with others for years now, but primarily with vehicle tours. How does EcoFlight fit into the work you’ve been doing there?
You could spend your entire life exploring the Red Desert — it’s that big of a landscape. When we leave Lander on a vehicle tour, whether we’re taking elected officials, Tribal people, WOC members, or donors, we know that it’s going to be an all-day trip, because a lot of these areas have long distances between them.
For people who don’t have that time or that mobility, I think it’s important that we try to work out a different tour for them. The intention for this year’s flight was to get some Tribal elders out there. We were able to get Reba Teran, an Eastern Shoshone elder and language teacher, and Mary Headley, a Northern Arapaho elder who teaches at the Arapaho Immersion School, to join us. And then they also brought their helpers with them because they have mobility issues. We’re trying to make sure that people who have mobility issues are still able to see these places, and have these discussions.
Tell us a little about your flight path — which parts of the Red Desert did you get to see?
We did two flights that morning, and we kind of did a loop of everything north of I-80. We left the Lander airport early that morning, flew over Red Canyon, flew to where the Great Divide Basin starts over by the Oregon Buttes and the Honeycomb Buttes. Then we moved down to the Killpecker Sand Dunes and Boar’s Tusk. From there, we flew over the White Mountain petroglyphs, checked out Steamboat Mountain, and came back up through the Wind River Range.
For someone like you, who has spent so much time out in the Red Desert, what’s it like to see it from the air?
I think the Red Desert is such a special place, because it has all of these different microhabitats within the area that it covers. You have the south side of the Winds, and the sand dunes, and areas of sagebrush. The plains, the desert, and the mountains meet in this area, but you don’t understand completely until you’re thousands of feet above it. I think the EcoFlight is a very powerful tool to be able to visualize how interconnected these habitats are to one another. It’s such a beautiful thing.
Could you share some of the highlights of the flight?
Being able to see the sand dunes moving in real time was a highlight. The Killpecker Sand Dunes are the largest living sand dune field in North America. When you’re on the ground, there’s always a steady wind, and you can kind of see the sand moving. But when you have a bird’s eye, you can actually see where they’re traveling across the landscape.
Also, there were also some pretty good migrations of antelope coming down off the mountains. Especially knowing how diminished those populations are after last winter, it was amazing to see just how resilient these animals are to be migrating across the land.
What was it like to share an aerial view of the Red Desert with the elders who joined you? And with other, younger Tribal members?
For both Reba and Mary, especially as culture and language teachers, I think it was important for them to be able to tell us the names of these places, and what those names meant, and why they were named a certain way. As an Arapaho person myself, being in a situation where Mary was educating other Arapahos who didn’t know those areas was really impactful. I have Shoshone family (although I’m not a Shoshone Tribal member), so being out there with Reba and hearing their stories, hearing their names, and why they’re named those things felt very impactful to me, too.
Over a dozen Tribes have relations with that landscape: The Shoshone, the Crow, the Cheyenne, and many others have stories about that land and their connection to that landscape. Some of those Tribes, their stories go back thousands of years. So I think it’s really important that not only are those stories told, but that those stories are shared with the next generation. Not only did we have the elders, but we had young people on both of those flights who were able to hear from the elders, and I think that made this very significant.
I think that’s interesting, because you’re in a role where you’re the tour guide. But you’re also learning from your elders, too.
Yeah. I think that’s a part of our culture, as Indigenous people. We look to our elders for guidance, we look to our elders to be able to tell stories. There’s places like the Birthing Rock, and the White Mountain petroglyphs, and all these other sacred sites that are found in the Red Desert. If we don’t relay this information, it will be lost. So it’s important to ensure that our elders are able to have the space to pass on these stories to young people.
FOR OVER A DECADE, we’ve been eagerly anticipating — and preparing for — the release of the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan. The RMP, issued by the Bureau of Land Management, would have enormous implications for the future of the world-renowned and beloved Red Desert, the largest unfenced area in Wyoming and home to some of our state’s most iconic wildlife.
We’re thrilled to say that after 12 years of waiting, the moment has finally arrived! On the morning of August 16 (while Wyoming Outdoor Council staff gathered around a conference table for a regular program meeting, in fact), we learned that the draft RMP had just been published.
Not only is the draft plan extremely favorable to conservation, but it aligns closely with the Red Desert values WOC has worked so hard to connect people with over the last several years.
Images: Joe Riis
With its strong protections for wildlife, cultural values, wide-open spaces, and recreation, there’s a lot to be excited about in the draft RMP. The draft includes four management alternatives, and the BLM’s preferred alternative affords the highest levels of protection. This conservation-focused alternative will:
Protect high-quality habitat for Greater sage-grouse and all our treasured wildlife species.
Maintain and expand closures for oil and gas development to fully protect winter range and migration corridors for mule deer, pronghorn, and elk herds.
Preserve significant cultural and historical resources and protect Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge.
Ensure unparalleled opportunities for hiking, camping, hunting, biking, and other recreational activities now and for generations to come.
Supporting the draft plan’s preferred alternative is the best opportunity we’ve ever had to secure lasting protections for the Red Desert.
This is an exciting moment, but our work is far from done. Since the RMP’s release, we’ve entered into the BLM’s 90-day public comment period. Now is the time to speak up for this cherished landscape. Every voice matters. Together, we can ensure the Red Desert may be enjoyed now and well into the future.
From now until mid-November when the public comment period closes, WOC will be working with its partners, members, and other Wyomingites to support a strong final plan. We need your help, too: Over the next several months, we’ll keep you up-to-date with information on public meetings, letter-writing parties, and other events. (If you haven’t signed up to receive our emails, now is the time — we’ll be sharing how you can use your voice to make a difference!) And, of course, we’ll continue to celebrate the Red Desert, its significant cultural values, world-famous wildlife and migration corridors, and its unparalleled recreation opportunities and wide-open spaces.
IN A FUN EFFORT TO HELP LOCAL WILDLIFE HABITAT, the Wyoming Outdoor Council teamed up with the Wyoming Wilderness Association and the Bureau of Land Management to host a volunteer stewardship day to improve over a mile and a half of fencing in the Big Sandy foothills outside Boulder, Wyoming. This fence modification project, led by BLM sage-grouse specialist Nate Fronk, offers critical changes to traditional fencing so that pronghorn, mule deer, and Greater sage-grouse can safely pass unharmed. Alongside staff from WOC, WWA, and BLM, six Wyomingites volunteered their Saturday to make this landscape a better place.
Traditional fencing across Wyoming is composed of four barb-wire rows, with the top line at 50 inches and the bottom at 12 inches. Studies show that sage-grouse fly at 50 inches on average, and often collide with the top fence wire, which is a significant contributor to sage-grouse fatalities in the area. Mule deer also have a difficult time jumping over fencing at that height, and pronghorn struggle to duck underneath the bottom line.
Luckily, a few simple alterations can turn this cumbersome barrier into an easy passage. The bottom barb-wire line is replaced with a smooth wire and raised to 18 inches, allowing pronghorn to duck underneath without injury. The top wire is lowered to 40 inches, which dramatically reduces sage grouse fatalities and makes it easier for mule deer to jump over it. While these minor modifications have a huge benefit to local wildlife, it does not compromise any functionality in keeping cattle and livestock where they’re supposed to be.
This is a great example of simple solutions that have a huge impact, making our ecosystems healthier while still serving the needs of our livestock and grazing industries. Thanks to the good work of volunteers, this stretch of fence will no longer endanger our beloved wildlife.
The Wyoming Outdoor Council is always looking for volunteers to help improve our public lands and wildlife habitat. If you’re interested in helping out on a stewardship day or other project, pleasesign up to receive updates to learn about how you can help maintain Wyoming’s environment and quality of life for future generations.
THE YEAR 1988 FEELS LIKE A LIFETIME AGO. At the time, the Berlin Wall was still standing, over a million acres in the Greater Yellowstone burned to the ground, and the legal drinking age in Wyoming was 19. It was also the last time the Bureau of Land Management updated the rules that govern its oil and gas leasing program. That’s 35 years without major revisions — which has resulted in an outdated program that threatens the agency’s ability to manage public lands in a way that protects all the uses, including conservation and wildlife values. Thankfully, in July 2023, the BLM took the first steps to change that, publishing a new draft rule to bring its oil and gas leasing program into the 21st century. The rule includes timely improvements that will benefit our public lands and the people of Wyoming in several ways.
The first change is an issue that is close to my heart as the Outdoor Council’s wildlife and public lands advocate. The draft rule takes strides to steer leasing away from lands with little to no potential for oil and gas so that places with important habitat and recreational values can be better managed for those resources. Here in Wyoming, we are blessed with some of the greatest wildlife habitat, blue ribbon fisheries, and untrammeled open spaces in the lower 48. Many of us who live here rely on this surrounding bounty and wouldn’t have it any other way. Unfortunately, when parcels of public lands are proposed for leasing without taking their actual energy potential into account, it allows land speculators to tie up these lands for years, making it difficult for the BLM to manage for other uses, including habitat conservation and recreation.
For example, areas surrounding Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge and much of the Red Desert are beset with leases on lands with little to no potential for oil and gas development. Both places have phenomenal value for wildlife and recreationists alike, supporting large herds of ungulates, dense populations of Greater sage-grouse, and opportunities for solitude undreamed of in most of the country. By using new criteria that favor leasing land close to existing development and deprioritizing land with important natural and cultural resources, the new rule better equips the BLM to protect the qualities that make Seedskadee, the Red Desert, and other public lands exceptional.
By using new criteria that favor leasing land close to existing development and deprioritizing land with important natural and cultural resources, the new rule better equips the BLM to protect the qualities that make Seedskadee, the Red Desert, and other public lands exceptional.
In parts of Wyoming where oil and gas leasing and drilling does occur, the new rule would better protect taxpayers and ensure companies pay to clean up after themselves when operations cease. Importantly, the new rule raises federal bonding rates for the first time in decades. At current rates, it’s cheaper for companies to walk away and forfeit the money they put down on a bond rather than plug and reclaim wells. Updated bond rates in the new rule would help quash the orphaned well crisis, protecting the public and promoting landscape health. Moreover, the new rates set forth match those Wyoming has had in place for years to drill on state-owned lands, demonstrating that oil and gas companies can afford to pony up adequate funds for clean-up as part of the cost of doing business.
The new rule would also help Wyoming taxpayers receive a fair return on development taking place on our public lands by modernizing royalty rates, rental rates, and filing fees to reflect the economic realities of today. A 2019 analysis conducted by Taxpayers for Common Sense found that taxpayers lost an estimated $120 million in rental revenue between FY2010 and FY2019 from oil and gas leasing on federal lands in Wyoming, due to previously outdated rental rates. If companies are going to reap the rewards of drilling for oil and gas on public lands, they should be compensating the public properly. The new rule, with provisions to increase royalty rates from 12.5% to 16.67%, will ensure just that.
We all know that oil and gas development plays an important role in Wyoming’s economy and is one of the many uses the BLM manages for on our public lands. Given that, it is gratifying to see the agency moving forward with common-sense reforms that better serve the public and the lands it manages. We have a lot to protect in Wyoming — this draft rule helps us take another step in the right direction.
When it comes to the BLM’s oil and gas program, it’s high time we leave the 1980s behind.
The Bureau of Land Management rang in the new year with a bang and has cued up a public comment doubleheader for two upcoming oil and gas lease sales. I hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to share your views on both sales with the BLM in one fell swoop!
First up, the newly proposed September lease sale would open more than 95,000 acres of public land to oil and gas development, 20 percent of which overlaps priority sage-grouse habitat. With sagebrush habitat in freefall, and ongoing sage-grouse population declines, we should be shoring up the best remaining sage-grouse habitat, not leasing it out for industrial development. Also of concern is a parcel directly adjacent to, and possibly overlapping, two Wilderness Study Areas (Alkali Basin/East Sand Dune and Red Lake) and 19 parcels in crucial winter range for mule deer, pronghorn, and elk.
I do have some good news to share: Thanks in part to public comments from people like you, the BLM issued an Environmental Assessment that could remove 80,000 acres of public land from the June lease sale, much of which was also in priority sage-grouse habitat. Now is the time to let the BLM know that we are in favor of these deferrals. That said, dozens of parcels are still being offered in priority sage-grouse habitat along with three parcels in Wyoming’s officially designated Baggs mule deer migration corridor. I encourage you to speak up on behalf of these conservation values on our public lands.
Your comments can be brief and highlight your own personal connection to the wildlife and landscapes in question. You may also want to highlight that:
The BLM has made previous commitments to avoid new surface disturbance in high priority habitat, yet both proposed sales include parcels that lie within this core sage-grouse habitat.
Across the West, we are losing 1.3 million acres of sagebrush habitat annually and the primary threat to sagebrush in Wyoming is development. Protecting core, healthy tracts of sagebrush habitat from disturbance is crucial to the ecosystem and benefits many other species of wildlife that depend on sagebrush.
More than 8 million acres of public lands in Wyoming are already leased to oil and gas companies, with 4.2 million acres sitting idle and undeveloped. Companies have ample opportunity for drilling without the BLM leasing additional parcels.
Comments on the September sale are due Jan. 19, and comments for the June sale are due Jan. 23.
Thank you for your commitment to the lands and wildlife that sustain us all!
On Friday, Nov. 11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took an important step toward protecting public health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change by strengthening proposed rules that will reduce wasteful methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.
If enacted, these common-sense rules would be the first action by the EPA to regulate methane emissions from the thousands of existing oil and gas wells in Wyoming, not just future development. The rules are expected to promote new cost-effective technologies to prevent waste, and make natural gas more competitive as consumers demand cleaner sources of energy.
The announcement of new measures to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from oil and gas operations is welcome news, and builds off of Wyoming’s own successes in reducing harmful emissions and will limit wasted methane from leak-prone equipment.
The updated proposal would require routine and cost-effective monitoring of well sites, encourage the development and use of new leak detection technologies, and set higher standards for flaring — a practice by which methane is burned as a waste product rather than captured and sold.
The Wyoming Outdoor Council sees these rules as essential to spurring future innovation around leak detection and repair and to creating a level playing field for methane regulation across the oil and gas industry. We’re encouraged by the efforts to address routine flaring, and hope that the final rule fully eliminates this wasteful practice.
Methane emissions from human activities are responsible for about 30 percent of global warming since the industrial revolution.
The case for cutting methane emissions
Methane regulation is supported widely by leading industry and conservation groups. Many oil and gas operators, including major Wyoming producers like Jonah Energy and Purewest Energy, are already working to reduce sources of wasted methane as consumers demand cleaner sources of energy.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which passed into law in August 2022, set aside roughly $1.5 billion to help operators to comply with new methane emissions rules.
Capturing methane is very cost effective. In many cases wasted natural gas can be captured and sold, paying for most, if not all, of the additional work needed to capture it. Recent data from the International Energy Agency suggest that up to 45 percent of wasted methane emissions can be prevented at no net cost.
Reducing methane leaks saves taxpayer dollars and stewards valuable resources for the future. In 2018, the Wyoming Outdoor Council and its partners estimated that between $51 million and $96 million of methane was vented and flared annually in Wyoming. This translated to $9-16 million lost in annual royalty payments to the state.
Reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production is widely regarded by scientists and policy makers as a critical first step to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change in the future. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for about 30 percent of global warming since the industrial revolution. However, methane also leaves the atmosphere quickly compared to other greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Reducing wasted methane emissions now is one of the best opportunities to buy time to implement other climate solutions.
Reducing methane emissions has significant air quality and human health benefits. The same leak detection and repair practices used to reduce methane will also reduce harmful air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that cause respiratory damage and contribute to poor air quality.
The Bureau of Land Management has announced plans to lease more than 250,000 acres of public lands in Wyoming for oil and gas development in the beginning of 2023. Sage-grouse habitat is impacted on nearly every acre of the proposed lease sale.
Greater sage-grouse have declined across their range by 80% since 1965, and habitat loss is a significant driver in those declines. We are losing sagebrush habitat at a rate of 1.3 million acres a year throughout the West, but Wyoming is a bright spot, retaining more intact sagebrush habitat than any other state in the union. Wyoming has a valuable role to play in preserving sage-grouse populations and the sagebrush ecosystem by shoring up our remaining stretches of healthy habitat.
We at the Wyoming Outdoor Council believe the BLM should, at minimum, remove all parcels encompassing “priority” or “core” sage-grouse habitat from this sale — although offering any parcels within “general” sage-grouse habitat is also ill-advised. The development that we allow in Wyoming has far-reaching implications for the persistence of sage-grouse nationally, and staving off an Endangered Species Act listing depends on providing these birds the space they need on the landscape. Given the downward trajectory of sage-grouse numbers, we should not be offering up sage-grouse habitat for industrial development.
The BLM is accepting public scoping comments until Nov. 7 to identify issues that should be addressed in the agency’s environmental review. If you have a moment, send a brief, personal message to the BLM asking that sage-grouse core areas be removed from the sale. Sharing your concerns with the sale, and your personal connection to the wildlife and landscapes that will be affected, can help influence the agency to take conservation values into account.
In your comments, you may want to highlight that:
The vast majority of the proposed lease sale falls in sage-grouse habitat (205 out of 209 parcels). The BLM has made previous commitments to avoid new surface disturbance in high priority habitat, yet 70 of the parcels lie within this core sage-grouse habitat.
Across the West, we are losing 1.3 million acres of sagebrush habitat annually and the primary threat to sagebrush in Wyoming is development. Protecting core, healthy tracts of sagebrush habitat from disturbance is crucial to the ecosystem and benefits numerous other species of wildlife that depend on sagebrush.
More than 8 million acres of public lands in Wyoming are already leased to oil and gas companies, with 4.2 million acres sitting idle and undeveloped. Companies have ample opportunity for drilling without the BLM leasing additional parcels.
Thank you for taking the time to be a champion for our wild species and wild places. If you have questions, please reach out to Meghan Riley, the Outdoor Council’s public lands and wildlife advocate.
The eighth annual Run the Red trail race took off from South Pass City Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022 celebrating Wyoming Public Lands day with a testament to our incredible public lands. Over 260 runners — the most in the history of the event — stepped up to the challenge, venturing into the vast and beautiful Red Desert to tackle either the half marathon, 50K or grueling 100K distances.
Together with co-sponsors Wyoming Wilderness Association and National Outdoor Leadership School, the Wyoming Outdoor Council has anchored conservation into the character of this nationally recognized trail race: all participants supported Citizens for the Red Desert with a small donation or participated in a volunteer stewardship project at South Pass. Special thanks to WOC engagement coordinator Kyle Elmquist, our partners, and everyone who volunteered to make the day memorable!
Photos courtesy of our race directors at Everlong Endurance.
Kara Choquette is director of communications and government relations for wind energy developer Power Company of Wyoming, as well as the TransWest Express transmission line project. Earlier this year, she joined the board of the Wyoming Energy Authority. She shared her thoughts about the Energy Authority and the role of renewable energy in Wyoming’s future in a quick Q&A with the Outdoor Council.
Share a little about your background, and your experience in the energy industry. What motivates you to work in the energy sector in Wyoming, and how did that lead you to serve on the board of the WEA?
I’ve been working directly in the renewable energy space since 2009. That’s when I joined a company that is developing the nation’s largest single wind power project, in Carbon County, Wyoming, and is also developing a major new interregional electricity transmission line for Wyoming. It was a natural career transition for me and a compelling opportunity after spending over a decade working in the technology and water industries – which each include important energy-related aspects. I liked the fact that wind turbines create electricity without requiring any water. Having grown up on a family farm/ranch, I wanted to help bring more kinds of good-paying, stable, family-supporting jobs to a rural area. And I liked that wind energy is compatible with agricultural operations and multiple environmental objectives.
I’ve been an active participant in some manner with the Wyoming Energy Authority and with one of its predecessors, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, since 2009. Recently, I’ve been part of two multi-stakeholder state groups – the governor’s Platte Valley Mule Deer Local Area Working Group, and the University of Wyoming-led Renewable Energy Siting Collaborative. I was honored to join the WEA board because the WEA is at the forefront of “all things energy,” in the nation’s top Energy State, during a fascinating period of energy opportunity and evolution.
How do you see renewable energy fitting into the future of Wyoming’s economy and way of life?
To me, renewable energy is entirely consistent with Wyoming’s pioneering and pathfinding DNA. Wyoming’s history is filled with so many stories about developing new trails, exploring diverse opportunities, and responding creatively and decisively to changing markets and conditions. Renewable energy also can help maintain Wyoming’s longstanding leadership as an energy producer and exporter. The completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 opened up new access to new markets for otherwise-stranded resources in Wyoming, such as coal produced from Wyoming’s original coal-mining county (Carbon County). Similarly, new high-voltage interregional transmission lines will open up access to new markets for otherwise-stranded clean electricity resources in Wyoming. The state does not have in-state demand for all of the abundant mineral and non-mineral resources it can provide. When new non-mineral power plants can compete and can secure customers out-of-state, that will create more new energy jobs and new sources of energy revenues in-state.
What are your hopes for your time with the Wyoming Energy Authority? What would you like to see WEA achieve?
The Wyoming Energy Authority is a relatively new entity, created by the state in 2019 (via Senate File 37). The WEA’s primary purpose is straightforward: “diversify and expand the Wyoming economy through improvements in the state’s electric and energy transmission infrastructure and facilitate Wyoming’s production, development and transmission of energy and associated natural resources.” I would like to be part of the WEA continuing to grow and achieve its purpose, especially in areas related to the clean energy technologies that are increasingly in demand today and in the near future. I hope to add value by bringing diverse expertise specifically in the renewable energy sector, and an enthusiasm for other important energy aspects like energy efficiency. The WEA is fortunate to have an outstanding executive director, smart and dedicated staff, and top mineral and non-mineral energy experts who have been on the board since its inception; I’m glad to be part of this team.
