Lisa McGee

“The president stole your land.” That’s the stark message today over at patagonia.com.

We join Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and the vast majority of our fellow citizens to express our deep disapproval of President Trump’s recent decision to shrink the boundaries of two national monuments. His unprecedented move reduces Bears Ears National Monument by more than 1 million acres—or 85 percent, and it removes 900,000 acres from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument—effectively halving it.

These monuments are in Utah, but make no mistake: they belong to all of us. They are part of the proud legacy of public land ownership all Americans enjoy.  

Wyoming is home to our nation’s first national monument, Devils Tower. It’s also home to our first national forest and national park—the Shoshone and Yellowstone. At the Outdoor Council, we believe public lands are worth fighting for. They are essential to our quality of life today, and they’re a vital legacy to pass on to our kids and grandkids tomorrow.

At our 50th anniversary celebration in Lander this past September, we honored Yvon Chouinard with the Tom Bell Legacy Award. This award celebrated Yvon’s lifelong commitment to public lands, wildlife, and clean air and water. With that award, and now, we want to express our deep gratitude for Yvon’s and Patagonia’s unwavering support of grassroots conservation groups like ours—and the public lands we’re all working to protect.

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Last week, we sent a letter to Representative Liz Cheney opposing draft legislation that would transfer management authority for oil and gas permitting on federal lands to the states while allowing energy developers to circumvent our nation’s bedrock environmental policy law.

The so-called ONSHORE Act (Opportunities for the Nation and State to Harness Onshore Resources Act) is now before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. If adopted, it would remove essential checks—including public input—that help create a balance between development and conservation on public lands.

Behind the ONSHORE Act is the complaint by some lawmakers that the permitting process for oil and gas development on federal land takes more time than on state or private land. But there’s good reason for this: these are lands owned by all Americans (not energy companies or other private entities) and they are managed for more than one use. Overseeing and analyzing the potential environmental harms of energy development on public health and important shared resources is going, by necessity, to take time.

Even so, there are ways of making the federal leasing and permitting process more efficient without abandoning our collective responsibility to protect the environment, as the ONSHORE Act would do.

In Wyoming and in the United States, we value our public lands for family outings, hunting, fishing, and camping. We also treasure wildlife, clean air, and clean water. Far from being at odds with economic development, these are values that attract and retain workers and greatly enhance our quality of life. People want to live and work in Wyoming and other places with accessible public lands because they know they and their children will breathe clear air, drink clean water, and experience unparalleled opportunities for recreation and exploration.

As we shared with Representative Cheney, the Wyoming Outdoor Council unequivocally opposes the ONSHORE Act because giving management authority to the states would eliminate essential public involvement—including Wyoming voices—in the process of issuing drilling permits. It would also allow states to make these decisions without first considering the potential environmental harms of oil and gas development on public health, wildlife, and other important shared resources.

Please contact Representative Cheney and tell her you oppose the ONSHORE Act.

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It’s been a busy end of the summer for the Keep it Public, Wyoming coalition. Events in Laramie and Jackson together brought out some 600 people—a testament to how important public lands are to our quality of life and economy in Wyoming. These events and another upcoming one in Sheridan on September 30 are working.

We are not likely to see legislative attempts at the wholesale transfer of our public lands anytime soon. Thanks to engaged citizens like you, these lawmakers have gotten the message loud and clear. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other equally bad ideas. One, the Federal Lands Freedom Act H.R 3565, co-sponsored by our own Rep. Liz Cheney would turn over decisions about oil and gas leasing and permitting on BLM and national forest lands to the states. Bills like this one would be disastrous for recreation, wildlife, and balanced multiple uses of our public lands. The states could override the current multiple use mandate on our public lands in favor of drilling and other industrial uses. We will continue to track bad bills like this and offer ways for you to voice your opposition.

The Keep it Public, Wyoming coalition has drafted state-level legislation that we hope will find sponsors and pass this session. The bill states that “efforts to transfer large tracts of the federal public lands in this State into private or state control are contrary to the wishes of Wyoming people and the democratic values of freedom and access that define our Equality State.” It would also dedicate a new Wyoming state holiday: Public Lands Day to highlight the importance of public lands to the state, encourage volunteer stewardship activities and encourage schools to participate with a day off as a hunting and outdoor recreation day for our state’s school-age children.

In an unprecedented action, the Trump administration released more details today about its move to to undo National Monument designations throughout the West, including one monument dating back to 1924.

In a previous statement, President Donald Trump referred to National Monuments as “abuses” and vowed to “return control [of these lands] to the people.” The Wyoming Outdoor Council finds this statement both uninformed and misguided because these lands already do belong to all Americansand due to their monument designations, they are now properly protected.

This afternoon, the Department of the Interior announced it will hold its first-ever comment period for the public to provide input on monument designations throughout the West, including Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado, among many others.

The comment period is not yet open—it will open after May 12—you’ll hear from us again with details on how you can participate.

National Monuments are public lands and they are among our most precious national treasures. The National Monument designation is one of our nation’s core conservation tools, and it has helped make the United States’ public lands the envy of the world.

Our nation’s first National Monument was Devils Tower in Wyoming, designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. The Antiquities Act of 1906 created the National Monument designation for public lands and gave the power to the President of the United States to designate these monuments.

While Wyoming’s monuments are not included, we believe this action cuts to the heart of what public lands mean to us, our members, and our country—and this action is part of a larger ideological assault on our nation’s public lands.

Our primary goal is to ensure that public lands remain in public hands.

We’ll be in touch with more information for how you can take action.

Wyoming’s namesake mountain range is a landscape the Wyoming Outdoor Council and our partners have worked to protect for 10 years. Many of you will recall the controversial offering of some 40,000 national forest acres for oil and gas lease sale back in 2005-06. This unpopular decision resulted in the formation of a powerful coalition. Citizens, hunters, anglers, recreational users, wildlife enthusiasts, ranchers, labor union members, outfitters, tourism interests, and conservationists came together in a united effort to protect the Wyoming Range.

While the fate of these leases remained in limbo, we worked together to pass the Wyoming Range Legacy Act in 2009, bipartisan legislation that withdrew 1.2 million acres of the Bridger-Teton National Forest from future oil and gas leasing. Three years later we came together again to find a solution to the threat posed by 136 natural gas wells in the Upper Hoback Basin. We helped raise $8.75 million to purchase and retire these valid, existing oil and gas leases.

The issue that started it all—the controversial and long-contested oil and gas leases—was the last to be resolved. The fate of these leases has always rested with the Forest Service. Five years ago, the agency made a good decision not to lease these acres, only to pull back when faced with legal challenges. Today, after years of careful additional analysis and consideration of input from thousands of citizens, the Forest Service is reissuing its no-leasing decision.

This decision approaches what we hope will be the end of a long chapter of uncertainty. Unfortunately, because the decision comes so close to the change in presidential administrations, it is still unclear whether it will persist. We will keep you posted. For now, however, a celebration is in order.

Warm regards,

The U.S. Forest Service has at long last released a draft analysis for its final decision about the last remaining—and most controversial—oil and gas leases on the eastern slope of the Wyoming Range.

Please click here to voice your support for the agency’s preferred alternative: No Leasing.

It has never been more important to show broad public support for a “no leasing” decision. Please speak up today!

In order for comments to be most useful and to ensure they are considered prior to the final decision, please submit them by May 23, 2016.

• Click here to read the Bridger-Teton National Forest’s media release.
• Click here to see the draft analysis in its entirety.

Continue reading Please Support ‘No Leasing’ Decision in the Wyoming Range! →

Dear members and supporters,

Nearly ten years in the works, the Shoshone National Forest released its new long-term land-use plan today—and there’s a lot to be happy about.

The Shoshone is our country’s first national forest and it remains one of its wildest. As you might expect with a 2.4 million acre forest and tens of thousands of stakeholders, nobody got everything they wanted in this plan. That’s really the way it should be.

Photo: © Scott Copeland Images

In the big picture—and a land use plan is just that: a big picture management framework—the Forest Service struck a balance that keeps management of the Shoshone on a good path and safeguards the wild, backcountry values that make it unique.

Our primary goal in this plan revision was to ensure that the Shoshone remains a place where wildlife continues to thrive, watersheds and air quality are protected, and people can go to experience unparalleled backcountry exploring, camping, hunting, and fishing.

We are pleased that large parts of the Shoshone are now designated as unsuitable for industrial oil and gas surface development. This was perhaps our biggest priority—and something we are grateful Governor Mead largely supported. And, although no wilderness recommendations were made, the highest quality backcountry areas will be managed for year-round, backcountry non-motorized recreation—something we fought hard to retain through the objection process last year.

Photo: Rich Brame

If you’d like to commend the hardworking Shoshone National Forest staff, you can send an email to Joe Alexander, the forest supervisor.

I believe that as Americans we are privileged to share in the ownership of such vast and inspiring pubic lands. With this privilege, however, comes the responsibility to participate in the public processes that affect our shared public lands. With your steadfast support of the Outdoor Council and with your own individual actions—whether attending a meeting or writing letters—you have made your voice heard and have made a difference. Thank you.

Warm regards,
Lisa