And They're Heavily Armed

Sportsmen Unite To Save Wyoming Range

By Brodie Farquhar, 1-25-07

A coalition of hunter, angler and sporting organizations – 13 in all – launched a statewide effort this week to help preserve access to the Wyoming Range.

The group, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, unveiled its new Website and billboards at a Wednesday afternoon presentation in Casper, at the Rocky Mountain Discount Sports store on CY Avenue.

The problem the group hopes to resolve is the continued oil and gas leasing of the Wyoming Range. The coalition’s proposal comes down to no new leases on public lands in the Wyoming Range, and a process that would allow for leases to be retired, traded or bought-out at fair market value.

The Wyoming Range is about 400,000 acres—70 miles long and 25 to 30 miles wide, running north to south in far western Wyoming, with its north end about 20 miles south of Jackson.

Last year, the Forest Service sold leases for 44,600 acres in the Wyoming Range, adding to the 150,000 acres leased since the 1970s. Oil and gas operators had sought leases on some 175,000 acres in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, but the agency pared that down to 44,600 after protests from Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo.

One billboard states: “We’re Mother Nature’s bodyguards. And yes, we are heavily armed.”

Tom Reed, backcountry organizer for Trout Unlimited, said the Wyoming Range has world-class hunting and fishing.

“With all of this land being leased, we’re worried that sportsmen’s rights will be sacrificed and that some of the best fishing, hunting and recreation in the country will be lost forever,” said Reed. “We realize that industries like oil and gas companies bring a lot of money to Wyoming and we absolutely support them, but we also believe that there are some places that should be left as they are.”

Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming (PAW) defended the record of the oil and gas industry over the past century. “We still have good wildlife and industry works well at mitigating or enhancing to make things better for wildlife,” he said.

Hinchey said he anticipates that regulations will be more than strict enough to protect habitat and wildlife in the Wyoming Range, once energy development gets underway.

Yet by more than a two-to-one margin (63-30 percent), Wyoming voters would halt the sale of new oil and gas leases in the Wyoming Range until a complete assessment of environmental impacts can be conducted, according to a Trout Unlimited poll last fall. The poll shows widespread popular support for limitations on energy development in the Wyoming Range. The poll also reports high public awareness of the need to preserve access for hunters and outdoorsmen, as well as the need to protect fish and wildlife habitat, and maintain water quality.

“We’ve brought these 13 organizations together, because we all feel that the Wyoming Range is important and we hope to get energy development withdrawn through federal legislation and with the help of our Wyoming congressional delegation,” he said.

Reed is one of only 350 people who have taken the Cutt-Slam – catching all four of Wyoming’s cutthroat trout subspecies. Three of the four—Bonneville, Colorado River and Snake River – were taken in the Wyoming Range.

Reed said the coalition is following model campaigns designed to preserve habitat and wildlife from damage associated with energy development – the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana and the Valle Vidal in northern New Mexico.

Duane Hyde, a fifth-generation Star Valley native and long-time game warden for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said he hopes there will be state and national legislation to protect the Wyoming Range for generations to come.

Okee VonSeggern, of the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association, said he’s not against the oil and gas industry, but noted that during the last energy bust, “many of us got into outfitting and guiding so we could stay in Wyoming.” He said the Wyoming Range is uniquely accessible to the public, but that you don’t have to travel very far to feel that you’re in a pristine environment.

Reed said the new Website for the coalition features a wealth of information about the issue, maps, photos, movies and tips for how citizens can get involved – write letters to local newspapers or to members of the Wyoming congressional delegation.

Members of Sportsmen for the Wyoming RangeTrout Unlimited
Mule Deer Foundation
Wyoming Wildlife Federation
Wyoming Backcountry Horsemen of America
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
Orion - The Hunter’s Institute
The Izaak Walton League, Travelle Chapter
National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)
Snowy Range Fly Casters
Bowhunters of Wyoming
Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association
Sublette County Outfitters & Guide Association
Wyoming Game Wardens Association

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