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Wildlife

Field Notes


Wyoming must do more to protect mule deer migrations

Posted on by Dustin Bleizeffer

Wyoming has been in the world spotlight since the discovery of the longest known mule deer migration, which runs 150 miles between the northern Red Desert and the Upper Hoback. That such an ancient migration still exists — despite roads, fences, housing, energy development, and other human activities — is amazing.

And new science is conclusive on two points: mule deer avoid development, and once a route is impeded, the deer don’t adapt. Unfortunately, under the new energy dominance policy, the BLM is offering oil and gas leases inside this corridor and other crucial wildlife habitat. And unless they hear from state wildlife managers, they’ll continue to do so.

The existence of the longest known mule deer migration is something Wyoming can no longer leave to chance. If we allow oil and gas activity here, the loss of this unique pathway will be on us.

Wyoming Game & Fish Department must step up

Wyoming’s wildlife is a tremendous part of our outdoor culture and a driver of our statewide economy. Big game hunting alone brings in about $300 million annually. According to a recent poll from Public Opinion Strategies, an overwhelming majority of all Wyoming voters — 89 percent — agree with Gov. Mark Gordon that protecting wildlife corridors does not have to be at odds with Wyoming’s energy industry.

Even former Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke understood the importance and popularity of protecting big game herds for westerners. Last year, he signed an executive order “to enhance and improve the quality of big-game winter range and migration corridor habitat on Federal lands.”

Yet the BLM continues to sell leases inside these habitats.

The thing is, states have the power to push back. When western states have asked the feds to pull oil and gas leases that have been offered in vital big game habitat, we’ve seen the BLM respond. Last year, the agency pulled more than a quarter of a million acres in Colorado from oil and gas lease sales at the request of state leaders.

And on the few occasions when the WGFD has asked the BLM to defer leasing parcels that fall entirely within a designated migration corridor — a very small percentage of the total number of oil and gas leases being offered in corridors — the BLM has granted its request.

This should be good news. But a state has to believe that the science matters, and then it must have the will to speak up. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re seeing in Wyoming. Right now, the WGFD is operating under the flawed premise that if only a portion of a particular lease parcel falls within a wildlife migration corridor, there’s no threat to our wildlife. But that isn’t the case.

The WGFD has developed a “strategy” that endorses leasing inside migration corridors so long as at least 10 percent of a parcel falls outside the corridor. The rationale — which the WGFD admits is not rooted in science — is based on the hope that energy operators will “do the right thing,” and locate infrastructure in the portion of the lease parcel that’s outside the designated migration corridor. Unfortunately, operators are not legally bound to do so.

Crossing our fingers that private energy companies will do what’s best for our wildlife is no way to manage one of Wyoming’s most important resources. But unless the WGFD finds the will to ask the BLM to pull these leases, blind hope is all we’ve got for now, because there’s no legal way to ensure that energy operators will limit development to outside corridor boundaries.
Even more troubling, when pressed, both the WGFD and the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission — the bodies charged with protecting Wyoming’s wildlife — have said they can’t ask to defer leasing in this tiny portion of Wyoming’s most important big game habitat for fear of retribution from the legislature and the oil and gas industry. This is despite an overwhelming and bipartisan majority of Wyoming voters agreeing that protecting wildlife corridors does not have to be at odds with energy development.

The bottom line is that there is no need to offer oil and gas leases in Wyoming’s migration corridors. Even if every lease that abutted the Red Desert to Hoback mule deer corridor were made off limits tomorrow, millions of acres of public lands are still available to lease — and develop. Wyoming is not so poor that (for as little as $1.50 per acre — less than a slice of pizza or a cheap cup of coffee) we should give away to energy companies our most crucial big game habitats and the very future of our big game herds.

Working to save Wyoming’s muleys — and how you can help

We’ll continue to review every BLM oil and gas lease sale in Wyoming and file protests when the agency ignores our concerns. We’ll keep testifying at Game and Fish Commission meetings, respectfully urging this body, charged with protecting Wyoming’s wildlife, to heed the science and take a stronger stand. We’ll keep meeting with WGFD leaders — and with the governor and his policy staff — to pore over maps and advocate better strategies. We’ll work with with partners, sportsmen and women, and citizens around the state to get the word out.

And we will continue to weigh all our options, including filing a legal challenge. That’s not a step we’d take lightly, but it’s one we’ll consider if it means protecting the future of Wyoming’s mule deer.

Wildlife and the vast open lands they need to survive define us in Wyoming. The Wyoming Outdoor Council is more committed than ever to work on behalf of Wyomingites to defend these irreplaceable resources and protect the state’s migration corridors for future generations.

 

Field Notes


An update: our ongoing efforts to protect Wyoming’s migration corridors

Posted on by Dustin Bleizeffer

These past few months, we’ve been asking the state to urge the Bureau of Land Management to take a more precautionary approach to oil and gas leasing in migration corridors until legally binding wildlife protections can be put into place. New and existing science clearly shows that drilling in migration corridors is bad for mule deer herds, and we want to know that any leases offered will have the stipulations in place that will protect Wyoming’s wildlife.

And thanks to you, the BLM is hearing a loud and clear message from the public. More than 260 of you signed our petition — which we submitted as formal comments — asking the BLM to defer leasing in Wyoming’s mule deer migration corridors and crucial winter ranges. To learn more about this issue, you can read our fourth quarter sale fact sheet.

In September, too, a west-wide court ruling forced the BLM to temporarily withdraw hundreds of thousands of acres of Greater sage-grouse habitat from its oil and gas lease auction scheduled for December, in order to allow for more public participation. The court found the BLM’s attempts to shorten public participation periods are likely in violation of several federal laws. As a result, just three parcels will go up for auction in Wyoming in December while the remaining 584 parcels spanning 790,462 acres will go on the auction block in February.

It’s the biggest lease sale in the state’s recent history, and it’s an indication of what the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” mandate continues to mean for Wyoming — a state where nearly half our lands are public. We’re letting the BLM know that we won’t stand for leasing in our most vital wildlife habitat.

We submitted a second round of comments listing several concerns regarding the BLM’s failure to consider a more measured approach. We continue to ask the BLM to defer leases that overlap big game migration corridors and crucial winter range until science-based and legally-enforceable stipulations are put into place to protect these habitats.

This week we testified before the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to let them know that Wyomingites overwhelmingly support protecting these migration corridors, and we continue to encourage state officials to simply honor that support by asking the Interior to defer leasing. To find out what our “next steps” are, you can read our recent letter with our recommendations to Gov. Matt Mead’s policy advisor.

 

Field Notes


Conserving Greater sage-grouse requires more than lip service

Posted on by Dustin Bleizeffer

It took nearly 10 years for western states and the federal government to agree on a plan to save the imperiled Greater sage-grouse — along with the health of the sagebrush ecosystem that it relies on. Yet the actual work of implementing the plan and testing its potential for success has only just begun.

That’s why the Wyoming Outdoor Council is closely examining plans to expand uranium mining in prime sage-grouse habitat in the remote Great Divide Basin in south-central Wyoming. Recent mining activities here have already “moderately” degraded the habitat, and a proposal to expand the mining operation would nearly double the area already disturbed.

In its eight-volume review of the proposed expansion, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management concludes that the mine’s increased degradation of prime sage-grouse habitat is acceptable and falls within the legal parameters of its own sage-grouse management plan. WOC staff disagrees.

“The BLM has not lived up to its own commitments,” Outdoor Council Conservation Advocate John Rader said. “They misapplied their own density calculation tool to suggest a smaller surface disturbance than the actual disturbance, they incorrectly assessed baseline noise levels, and they barely mention the cumulative impacts of the proposed expansion. They claim to make up for ongoing and future damages with an ‘adaptive management plan,’ yet no adaptive management plan exists.”

Rader said that carefully scrutinizing the BLM’s draft environmental impact statement for the Lost Creek mine expansion provides an important opportunity to improve not just this project, but the implementation of Greater sage-grouse management plans more broadly. Holding industry and permitting agencies accountable at Lost Creek will help ensure that standards and expectations are met in sage-grouse country around Wyoming.

“Essentially, this is an opportunity to test the larger effort to save the Greater sage-grouse,” Rader said.


A full accounting for surface disturbance

The Lost Creek in-situ uranium mine 40 miles northwest of Rawlins consists of a series of small wells that tap into a shallow formation containing uranium ore. A solution of mostly carbonated water is pumped into the formation to dissolve the metal, and pumped back to the surface where metals are recovered in a treatment facility.

The proposed mining expansion would nearly double the size of the project area to 10,000 acres — all inside an area known as a BLM Priority Habitat Management Area. That means the mine operates within one of Wyoming’s protected sage-grouse “core areas” — important nesting, breeding, and lekking habitat that’s vital to the bird’s health. As such, the BLM must apply several prescriptions to limit damage to the bird and its habitat.

One key stipulation that applies here is how much surface inside a sage-grouse core area is allowed to be disturbed at any one time. New development activities may not disturb more than 5 percent of suitable habitat per an average of 640 acres. To calculate this, officials use a “Density and Disturbance Calculation Tool.” The formula requires BLM to consider disturbed sage-grouse habitat, even outside of the project’s footprint.

However, Rader and other Outdoor Council staff discovered that the BLM didn’t do this. The agency misapplied the formula by not accounting for areas between actual wells, roads, and other new structures. Yet science shows that because these physical structures and roadways fragment the habitat, impacts to the species go beyond just where the infrastructure sits. If the BLM’s measurement tool had been correctly applied to include the in-between acreage, it is likely that surface disturbance would have exceeded the 5 percent threshold, Rader said. He also noted this in the Outdoor Council’s comments to BLM Rawlins Field Office.

We want the BLM to correctly apply its own formula for determining how much surface area may be disturbed by mining operations at Lost Creek. Getting it right here will help ensure it’s done right across all critical sage-grouse habitat in Wyoming and the West.


Setting the bar for noise and cumulative impacts

Our review of the BLM’s Lost Creek mine expansion proposal also revealed flaws in how baseline noise levels are measured. And we found that cumulative impacts (such as the loss, alteration, and fragmentation of habitat, and various stresses of industrial activity) were not accounted for — a troubling omission.

Human-caused noise and activity may reduce lek attendance, which can harm sage-grouse. Therefore, another key stipulation requires that no development activity exceeding 10 decibels above an area’s baseline noise level is allowed at the perimeter of a lek from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. during the spring breeding season. But the BLM’s flawed calculation of baseline noise levels grossly underestimated potential impacts, Rader said, and would allow for potentially harmful noise levels during the lek season.

Rader also noted that there’s too much variation in equipment used to measure ambient baseline noise, and too much variation in how the equipment is placed during testing. For example, sometimes microphones were placed much higher than a sage-grouse’s ears, allowing for more wind noise.

Based on ambient noise studies and the negative effects of noise on sage-grouse in Wyoming, we suggested that a clearer protocol be developed for establishing background noise levels and for monitoring. This is something that industry has also requested, noting that it would help avoid confusion and ensure clarity. We also suggested a statewide presumption of background noise levels based on peer-reviewed studies in sagebrush habitat in Wyoming, and recommended ensuring that human-caused noise levels do not exceed 26 decibels during lekking hours.

This presumption would decrease cost to industry by eliminating the need for baseline measurements, and reduce the risk of inaccurate measurements from flawed studies.

The BLM’s draft environmental impact statement for the Lost Creek mine expansion is troubling not only for its flawed analysis, but also for its failure to address cumulative impacts.

The BLM’s cursory evaluation — just two sentences — addressing the compounding effects of habitat fragmentation and other human-caused stresses associated with the mine’s activities risks weakening the broader, multi-state effort to protect the Greater sage-grouse. Curiously, the BLM defends these flaws by stating that any negative impacts to the bird and its habitat would be addressed in its Adaptive Management Plan for the project. But no such adaptive plan exists.


Why it matters, and what we’re doing

This project is not just about the habitat near Lost Creek. As we see opportunities for public input on these admittedly complicated processes diminish, it’s more important than ever to hold industry and permitting agencies accountable for protecting the Greater sage-grouse throughout sagebrush country. Agreeing on and using a clear set of science-based management prescriptions is necessary to ensure that mining, drilling, and other activities don’t further harm the species’ habitat.

“The sage-grouse management plans are more than a set of documents,” Rader said. “The bird is still in peril, and we must ensure that science-based plans are put into practice. State and federal permitting authorities are obligated to make sure they are properly measuring impacts and accounting for protections to avoid decimating some of the last best habitat that plays a major role in the survival of the species. That’s what we’re doing at Lost Creek.”

Field Notes


Wyoming must stand up to feds to save mule deer

Posted on by Dustin Bleizeffer

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The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s reckless oil and gas leasing actions may be the death warrant for a prized mule deer herd that relies on the renowned 150-mile Red Desert to Hoback migration corridor in western Wyoming — the longest big game migration measured in North America.

Wyoming’s political leaders and wildlife officials can avert this crisis, but there is little time left to take action. The next lease sale is Sept. 18.

“That we still have some of the most intact big game corridors in the world is a rarity worth protecting,” Wyoming Outdoor Council Executive Director Lisa McGee said. “It’s time for Wyoming to stand up for our wildlife.”

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Oil and gas development takes priority over all other uses and values for public lands under President Trump’s energy dominance mandate — drawing a target on Wyoming where much of the surface and underground mineral estate is owned by all Americans and managed by the federal government.

In a rush to implement the mandate and limit options for the public to have a say in future land management, the BLM has tripled the size of its quarterly oil and gas lease sales across the West. More than 1 million federal mineral acres across Wyoming are up for grabs in the Third- and Fourth Quarter oil and gas lease sales. Just a small fraction of those acres overlap the migration corridor and threaten its functionality.

The Outdoor Council and other organizations have asked the BLM to defer these leases, along with others in crucial wintering habitat statewide — a necessary action that does not impede an industry that already has filed 10,000 applications to drill across the state.

So far, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department seems satisfied with the BLM’s claim that “lease notices” attached to these parcels will “mitigate” impacts. But this assertion is incorrect.

Unlike formal lease stipulations, which are legally enforceable modifications to the terms and conditions of a standard BLM oil and gas lease, the notices proposed by BLM provide no authority to halt or significantly modify operations if necessary to protect migrating wildlife. State officials recently appeared to affirm this reality when the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments insisted that legally enforceable “lease stipulations” must be in place before offering oil and gas leases on state lands in the corridor. Such science-based stipulations should apply to federal leasing in the same corridor as well. Wyoming’s national preeminence in mule deer migration research positions us with the best expertise to craft these important stipulations.

So far, the BLM has been deaf to these arguments, as well as objections from Wyoming residents who value healthy wildlife populations, and the American people who own these public lands. However, the BLM has shown that it is willing to listen to two voices of influence: Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

At the governor’s request earlier this summer, the BLM agreed to withdraw three oil and gas lease parcels from the migration corridor, as well as sensitive habitats in the Greater Little Mountain Area where the state and feds previously had agreed to hold off from leasing.

Both Sweetwater and Teton counties, home to the southern and northern ends of the Red Desert to Hoback migration corridor, have asked the BLM to defer all leasing in the corridor for the irreversible damage it would do to wildlife and the local outdoor recreation and tourism economy. They need Gov. Mead and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to reinforce and carry their message. Respecting local governments is a mantra of this administration, yet it now rings hollow. The BLM has ignored these counties altogether.

Dan Heilig, the Outdoor Council’s senior conservation advocate, wrote to Wyoming Game and Fish Director Scott Talbott urging him to take action and to use the agency’s influence to insist that the BLM defer Third- and Fourth Quarter leases for sale in the corridor.

“Our big game herds are world-renowned and contribute to our collective sense of pride and quality of life we share in Wyoming,” Heilig wrote in the August 21 letter. “Surely the state can and should advise against sales that risk the future of our mule deer population.”

For more information, read our fact sheet about the issue and how you can effectively advocate for protecting big game migrations in Wyoming. Also, read the Outdoor Council’s August letter to Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Scott Talbott, urging the agency to stand up to federal overreach to protect Wyoming’s migrating wildlife.

 

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Field Notes


Speak out for the Greater sage-grouse, and our western heritage

Posted on by Dan Heilig

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We need your help to protect the Greater sage-grouse from a political effort to weaken the Wyoming-led plan that helped avoid an endangered species listing of the iconic western bird. You can help by submitting comments to the Bureau of Land Management by August 2, 2018.

BACKGROUND—

The BLM’s Wyoming State Office is accepting written comments from the public on its draft plan to amend a multi-year planning effort finalized in 2015 to conserve the species. The Trump administration wants to re-do the plans to give greater weight to state and industry concerns. This is unnecessary and risky. Although the draft plan for Wyoming contains many of the essential features of the 2015 plan, it also removes key elements that biologists believe are necessary to avoid the need for listing the species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

POINTS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR LETTER —

  •  Tell the BLM to keep the 2015 Greater sage-grouse conservation plans in place. These plans  — covering all of the western states where sage-grouse are found — were the result of years of scientific study and collaborative efforts in Wyoming and in the other western states, and the deal should be honored. Any changes or “tweaks” that experts deem necessary can be accomplished through minor plan amendments, or so-called maintenance actions. A complete rewrite is an unnecessary waste of federal resources, and risks upending the official finding made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that a listing under the ESA is not needed. The certainty provided by the 2015 plans is now being called into question as changes to the plans are proposed based on political, rather than scientific, considerations.
  • Tell the BLM that a state-by-state approach to conserving the Greater sage-grouse is counter productive. The Greater sage-grouse is a landscape scale species that needs expansive, undisturbed tracts of intact sagebrush habitat to survive. The 2015 plans recognized this, and contain science-based conservation measures that applied uniformly across the species’ range. The proposed state-by-state plan amendments will lead to a patchwork of efforts, some with sound conservation measures (like Wyoming) and others with wholly inadequate measures. Will Wyoming be left “holding the bag” because other states have failed to develop adequate conservation strategies? A landscape-scale approach with all states participating in good faith is the best way to ensure effective conservation of the species.
  • The plans proposed by BLM must do a better job of protecting core population areas, also known as Priority Habitat Management Areas, by reducing the main threat to Greater sage-grouse: oil and gas development. Tell the BLM to make core population areas off limits to new oil and gas leasing. Development on existing leases should be managed under strict regulations now in place that limit surface occupancy and disturbance, but new leasing that would allow for even more development should be prohibited. More energy development in the bird’s most important habitat will not help conserve the species.
  • The BLM’s proposal strips the fundamental mitigation goal of “net conservation gain” from the plans. Tell the BLM that a no net loss of habitat that merely prevents additional habitat loss (i.e., stops the bleeding) is not adequate to conserve the Greater sage-grouse. The science shows that the plans must achieve a net conservation gain if the species is to stand any chance of long-term recovery.
  • The BLM should improve plan monitoring and oversight, and must do a much better job following its plans. Our experience over the past several years has revealed that the BLM routinely failed to follow its own 2015 plan, largely because BLM failed to provide training to field staff and the necessary incentives to ensure proper implementation. The best plan in the world is worthless if agency personnel fail to enforce it. The plan should contain metrics by which conservation success can be measured — statements that the plan is working without objective evidence to support those claims will not be sufficient to convince the USFWS that the plans are effective conservation tools.
  • Tell the BLM that the proposed plan does not provide for adequate openness and transparency of important planning decisions. For example, the BLM would like to be able to modify habitat designations (e.g., core vs non-core) via an internal process, rather than going through a formal plan amendment. Tell the BLM to follow its own regulations and use an open process to make important changes to the plan. The public should have a say in how public lands and wildlife are managed.

NOW, TAKE ACTION —

You may submit comments by U.S. mail to the Wyoming BLM state office.

Mail your letter to:
Mary Jo Rugwell
State Director
BLM Wyoming State Office
5353 Yellowstone Road
Cheyenne, WY 82009

(Be sure to include “attn: Greater Sage-Grouse EIS.”)

Alternatively, you may submit comments via email to:
Jennifer Fleuret McConchie
Planning and Environmental Coordinator
Bureau of Land Management
Wyoming State Office

(Be sure to include “attn: Greater Sage-Grouse EIS” in the subject line)

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Please personalize your letter. We are witnessing an alarming trend in federal agency decision-making that discounts comments that appear to be based on “form letters.” Your letter will be given greater weight if it contains specific comments that relate to your experiences concerning sage-grouse. For example, if you enjoy watching the males engaging in the flamboyant mating display on leks, or hope to do so in the future, please consider including that bit of information in your letter.

Click this link for additional information related to the BLM planning process.

Thank you for speaking up for Wyoming’s amazing Greater sage-grouse!

 

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Field Notes


Your comments can help uphold historic sage-grouse protections

Posted on by Dan Heilig

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Wyoming citizens can tell Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke not to scrap commonsense protections for sage-grouse and the sagebrush ecosystem at two BLM meetings later this month.

The open-house meetings, to be held in Cheyenne and Pinedale, will provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about — and comment on — an ill-conceived BLM proposal that would eliminate habitat protections developed as part of a historic, West-wide conservation plan.

That plan, which Wyoming Governor Matt Mead helped craft and which was approved with broad bipartisan support in 2015, would help maintain healthy sage-grouse populations, as well as vibrant mule deer, elk, and pronghorn herds, and hundreds of other species that rely on intact sagebrush habitat. The plan’s conservation measures are widely credited with keeping the Greater sage-grouse off the endangered species list.

 

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MONDAY,
JUNE 25
4–7 p.m.
Laramie County Library
Cottonwood Meeting Room
2200 Pioneer Ave.
Cheyenne, WY

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27
1:30–4:30 p.m.
Sublette County Library
Lovatt Meeting Room
155 S. Tyler Ave.
Pinedale, WY

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A Collaborative West-wide Conservation Plan
Scrapped in the Name of “Energy Dominance”

Although the Trump administration touts the importance of state engagement and local input, its actions tell a different story.

In what many see as an egregious concession to mining and oil and gas lobbyists, Secretary Zinke last fall ordered his agency to reconsider the historic sage-grouse conservation plans that western stakeholders took years to craft.

These plans, which apply to 11 western states, are a wildly successful example of state engagement and local input. They were endorsed by western governors, conservationists, sportsmen, and many in the agricultural and oil and gas communities. The plans’ protections were modeled after Wyoming’s own strong sage-grouse conservation measures; the best available science, attention to balance development and wildlife management needs, and to keep the Greater sage-grouse from being listed as a threatened or endangered species. The approval of these plans in 2015 was a resounding success story. And Wyoming citizens know it.

Wyoming Citizens Stand Behind the Plans

Last December, Wyoming citizens turned out in force, along with Governor Matt Mead and other state leaders, to demand that the protections for Wyoming’s sage-grouse remain in place. Senator John Barrasso, too, publicly defended Wyoming’s plan.

The Interior Department listened . . . sort of. The BLM has now released draft amendments for each of the 11 states that signed on to the 2015 conservation plan. The amendments to Wyoming’s plan propose keeping some of our good protections. But taken as a whole, the amendments don’t do enough to ensure that sage-grouse populations across the West will be protected.

As Secretary Zinke must understand, keeping the Greater sage-grouse off the endangered species list goes beyond ensuring smart management only in Wyoming. Protecting the species — and its sagebrush habitat — across the west is essential. But the BLM is drastically reducing habitat protections in eight of the 11 states that are part of the West-wide plan, leaving just three — Wyoming, Montana, and Oregon — to carry the weight of protecting this iconic western species. And several changes in the plan proposed for Wyoming will hurt sage-grouse populations right here.

Tell Secretary Zinke: Honor the Deal!

The Department of Interior is currently taking public comment on its draft amendment for Wyoming. If you’re in Pinedale or Cheyenne next week, please attend a BLM open-house meeting to learn more. The BLM is taking public comment on the proposal right now. Come learn more and ask questions at the open houses next week as we prepare to send comments on behalf of our members in August.

Here are a few key points to make in your comments:

  • Without reliable, West-wide measures to address ongoing and increasing threats to the Greater sage-grouse and its habitat, we’re likely to find ourselves right back where we started: facing a listing under the Endangered Species Act. That’s not good for the sage-grouse and it’s not good for westerners.
  • Wyoming, Montana, and Oregon should not be the only states responsible for range-wide support of the sage-grouse population. The remaining states must help carry the weight. All 11 states that signed on to the 2015 conservation plan must be accountable for their share of the habitat and bird populations.
  • The proposal doesn’t do enough in terms of mitigation. The BLM must do everything in its power to improve habitat that has been lost or degraded due to development.
  • The proposal provides for more flexibility for “adaptive management.” Although flexibility might make sense, any departures from the original conservation directives must be transparent and backed by the best available science.  

Want to know more? Email the Outdoor Council’s Senior Conservation Advocate, Dan Heilig at dan@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

Thanks for standing up for Wyoming!

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Field Notes


Help protect North America’s longest mule deer migration corridor

Posted on by Dan Heilig

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We urgently need your help to protect the world’s longest mule deer migration corridor, which is found right here in Wyoming.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is set to auction several mineral lease parcels inside the corridor for oil and gas drilling, first in September and again in December. If these parcels are not deferred from leasing, they will be sold to the highest bidder, setting the stage for drilling inside this critical and sensitive corridor. The migration corridor is a lifeline for mule deer and provides important habitat for dozens of other iconic Wyoming species. 

The most powerful action you can take is to join us, first, to thank Gov. Matt Mead for his initial steps to protect the 150-mile Red Desert to Hoback migration route. Then you can ask him to stand strong by opposing the proposed sale of federal and state oil and gas lease parcels in this critical habitat.

In addition to writing to Gov. Mead, you can also email the Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioners. Please encourage them to continue to defend this corridor — and all migration corridors in Wyoming — as vital habitat that warrants the highest levels of protection.

Lisa McGee, our executive director, recently thanked the governor for his support of the corridor and asked him to take additional steps to protect it from oil and gas leasing. You can read her letter here.

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THIS MIGRATION CORRIDOR NEEDS YOUR HELP

Ongoing research has revealed that mule deer traverse a particular route each year, moving north from low-lying wintering grounds in the Red Desert to the higher elevations of Hoback Basin in the summer, then back again in the fall. It’s the longest annual migration by a land animal in the Lower 48. The migration corridor includes critical stop-over habitats, where the ungulates “recharge” in quiet and nutritious habitats before continuing on across a patchwork of public and private lands.

These stunning discoveries demonstrate an ancient lifeline that still exists today, not only for big game animals in western Wyoming, but for dozens of other species, as well. In turn, these species, and the habitats they depend on, are central to Wyoming’s outdoor heritage and our growing economy.

Learn about wildlife migrations in Wyoming here.

Data collected and analyzed by Wyoming biologists also demonstrate the fragile nature of this corridor system. Mule deer typically avoid human disturbance; too much human activity can cause the deer to rush through valuable stop-over areas, leaving them in poor condition for winter or the fawning season. Both scenarios threaten their survival.

POLICY YOU CAN INFLUENCE

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke issued a secretarial order to “enhance and improve the quality of big-game winter range and migration corridor habitat on Federal lands.” He deservedly earned accolades from a broad cross-section of western sportsmen and Wyomingites who asked for this protection.

Yet the BLM, one of the agencies Secretary Zinke oversees, now appears intent on undermining the order by offering to sell oil and gas lease parcels in the Red Desert to Hoback corridor in September and December. This makes no sense.

Western governors can influence the BLM when proposals to drill in critical wildlife habitat go too far or stray from Western values.

That’s why we’re asking you to join us in giving Gov. Mead all the support he needs to stand up against this federal top-down action from the U.S. Department of Interior.

THE UNTOLD STORY

Protecting the Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration corridor from leasing and subsequent development will not harm the oil and gas industry.

Today this industry has 5,881 authorized permits to drill in Wyoming, and 9,000 pending applications for permits to drill here. The BLM is scheduled to greenlight more than 20,000 more wells throughout the state in the next 10 years. The few dozen federal oil and gas lease parcels scheduled for sale in the migration corridor are unnecessary to Wyoming’s robust oil and gas economy. If sold, the development of these parcels threaten to permanently sever this migration lifeline for wildlife — along with a massive sector of Wyoming’s hunting and outdoor recreation economy.

Please contact Gov. Mead and let him know you appreciate his support for the world’s longest mule deer migration. Then ask him to oppose the BLM’s upcoming lease sales in the corridor.

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Field Notes


Sec. Zinke can’t protect critical wildlife pathways while drilling inside them

Posted on by Dustin Bleizeffer

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In a recent letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, we are asking him to make good on his promise to implement his own executive order to protect wildlife migration habitat by deferring oil and gas lease parcels inside a critical big game migration corridor.

A Wyoming Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sale scheduled for December 2018 includes several parcels in the Red Desert to Hoback big game migration corridor — the longest known mule deer migration corridor in North America. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department considers the corridor “one of the most critical mule deer migration routes in the West,” and “internationally-significant.”

Leasing inside this critical migration pathway runs counter to the very stated purposes of Secretary Zinke’s Executive Order #3362, signed February 9, 2018, which are “to enhance and improve the quality of big-game winter range and migration corridor habitat on Federal lands . . . ”

“We applaud Secretary Zinke’s focus on protecting migration corridors,”Outdoor Council Executive Director Lisa McGee said. “To ensure his executive order serves its purpose, at a minimum, oil and gas leases should not be offered within Wyoming’s Red Desert to Hoback corridor. Making sure habitat remains intact is critical.”

We join dozens of sportsmen groups in supporting Secretary Zinke’s executive order to protect migration corridors because it recognizes that “robust and sustainable elk, deer and pronghorn populations contribute greatly to the economy and well-being of communities across the West.”

In our letter to Secretary Zinke, McGee stated, “This is especially true in Wyoming where our residents know that migrations support life for thousands of animals. Without these intact pathways, our herds would be substantially smaller; corridors such as the Red Desert to Hoback allow deer to take advantage of seasonal forage and move away from areas with harsh winters.”

We earlier shared a letter with BLM Director Mary Jo Rugwell, outlining the science and protections that are needed as a minimum to protect these corridors.

McGee added, “The public land acres contained in these proposed lease parcels are small in scale compared to all the other potential BLM lands open for leasing in Wyoming; but they are large in importance for the health of this herd, and for Wyoming’s cultural and economic heritage.”

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Field Notes


Let Collaborative Science-Based Plans Stand

Posted on by Dan Heilig

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A historic, West-wide effort to protect the imperiled Greater sage-grouse is under threat by the Trump administration—even though Wyoming Governor Matt Mead doesn’t want Washington to meddle with key features of the science-based plan.

The federal plan for protecting sage-grouse in the West, finalized during the previous presidential administration, was largely based on Wyoming’s home-grown and collaborative strategy to protect “core” sage-grouse habitat—the places the birds rely on to perform their iconic mating ritual and raise their young.

But Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has announced that his agency will re-open the plan in order to consider an unsound, population-based strategy rather than a habitat-based approach.

But the science is clear on this point: A population-based approach to managing sage-grouse would absolutely not work. When it comes to the viability of the species, it all comes down to habitat.

“That (would be) the end of sage-grouse,” Brian Rutledge, director of the National Audubon Society’s Sagebrush Ecosystem Initiative recently told the Casper Star-Tribune. “I am counting on the governors to not let this happen.”

Wyoming’s plan is “solid and should be allowed to work,” Governor Mead said in a recent media release.

“I am concerned that the [Trump administration’s] recommendations place more focus on population targets and captive breeding,” Mead said. “Wyoming will continue to rely on science and scientists to manage the species. I will continue to work with Secretary Zinke, state and local stakeholders on this issue.”

Wyoming’s Groundbreaking Plan to Save Sage-grouse

Two successive Wyoming governors—Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, and Mead, a Republican—convened diverse teams of stakeholders—including representatives from the energy industries, wildlife advocates, agriculture, electrical utilities, mining, and state and federal resource management agencies—to create a plan with one overarching goal: conserve the most important habitat in order to avoid the need to list the sage-grouse as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

The resulting strategy—to protect sage-grouse core habitat and breeding areas—was informed by the best and most up-to-date science, and has been revised as new science has become available.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council has long been a supporter of this core area strategy, because we believe it is the bird’s best bet for long-term viability.

Not only do the current plans significantly reduce the threats to sage-grouse, they also protect more than 350 other Western species that depend on the same sagebrush habitat. The plans also serve ranchers, energy developers, and people who love the outdoors, as the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service have been able to implement sage-grouse conservation while still managing these landscapes for the benefit of millions of Americans who rely on them for their livelihoods and quality of life.

These plans are the largest land conservation effort in U.S. history. They were locally driven collaborative efforts, and are a testament to the ability of stakeholders to roll up their sleeves, put politics aside, and work together to find answers. The message we need to send to Secretary Zinke is clear: collaborative conservation works, and it’s the only way we are going to find lasting solutions to our most complicated ecological challenges.

The BLM is offering two opportunities for public input. First, click below to comment before the December 1 deadline.

 

 

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Let the agency know that you support these historic, science-based management plans and don’t want to see any changes. In your message, be sure to introduce yourself: say where you live and the values you have as someone who lives, works, and plays in the West. Personal stories and unique messages help ensure your message will be read and taken into consideration.

And if you live in Wyoming, please consider attending either of two public meetings hosted by the BLM next month:

 

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6
4–7 p.m.
Little America Hotel & Conference Center
2800 W Lincolnway
Cheyenne, WY 82009

 

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8
4–7 p.m.
BLM Pinedale Field Office
1625 W Pine Street
Pinedale, WY 82941

 

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For more information about the BLM meetings, click here.

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Field Notes


Speak Out Against the Privatization of Wyoming’s Wildlife!

Posted on by Dan Heilig

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The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is now accepting public comment on a proposed rule that would allow private businesses to “farm” wild Greater sage-grouse in captivity using wild eggs taken from nests and then to release those pen-raised birds back into the wild for a profit. This proposed rule, and the law on which it is based, undermines the long-standing principle that Wyoming’s wildlife is wild and is to be managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department—not private, for-profit entities. And yet, we are bound to follow the law, even as we work on efforts to repeal it. In the context of this effort, our focus must be on ensuring that the final rules adequately prevent harm to wild sage-grouse.

Your help is needed between June 14–August 23 to help ensure that the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission develops the strongest possible rule to prevent harm to Wyoming’s Greater sage-grouse.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Send a comment in writing by 5 p.m. on July 25 to the following address:

Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Wildlife Division
ATTN: Regulations
3030 Energy Lane
Casper WY 82604

You can also submit a comment online using the WGFD’s website:

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IN YOUR COMMENTS, URGE THE WGFD TO:

  • Prohibit the collection of eggs in core population areas for Greater sage-grouse. As protected habitat areas, core population areas should be off limits to this for-profit experiment that is likely to have disruptive effects to wild grouse. The law that requires the Game and Fish to develop this rule, Enrolled Act 91, requires the rule to identify “areas approved for collection of eggs.” We recommend that egg collection areas identified by the rule be located outside the state’s core population areas. Known as “General Habitat Management Areas”, the millions of areas of sage-grouse habitat located outside of core habitat provide ample opportunities for sage-grouse farmers to collect eggs while at the same time protecting the most productive areas from further disturbance.
  • Cap the number of licenses issued by WGFD to three (3). The proposed rule authorizes the issuance of up to five (5) licenses for the collection of eggs, each with the ability to collect up to 250 wild eggs per year.  One of the best things the rule can do to limit the negative effects of egg collection is to place a cap the number of licenses to three (3) or fewer. This simple action—which implements an explicit requirement of Enrolled Act 91 to set the number of licenses—would significantly reduce the harmful effects by reducing the number of eggs that can be taken to no more than 750 per year.
  • Restrict the sale of eggs. Enrolled Act 91 authorizes the collection of eggs only for “the purpose of establishing a captive breeding program.” The proposed rule should be revised to absolutely prohibit the sale of greater sage-grouse eggs for any other purpose, including the sale of eggs to third party purchasers, such as egg collectors who sell and trade such things on eBay. This restriction should apply to all eggs, both viable and non-viable. The absence in the rule of a restriction on the sale of eggs for other purposes is a glaring omission that must be corrected.
  • Prohibit the privatization of knowledge. The proposed rule should be revised to specify that information and experience gained by the licensee during the term of the license is public information and as such, should not be treated as proprietary trade secrets. It’s bad enough that certain individuals in the state wish to privatize wild animals for profit, but allowing the same people to profit from the information and knowledge gained while doing so is completely unacceptable.
  • Require the licensee to pay for the costs. The WGFD is funded primarily by the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. The costs of administering this grouse farming program, from reviewing the applications, to supervising the collection of eggs, to conducting inspections of facilities, should not be passed on to hunters and anglers.  The rule should contain cost recovery provisions to ensure that the licensee, not the public, pays for the cost of the program.
  • Egg collection activities must be supervised by the WGFD. The proposed rule allows—but does not require—the WGFD to supervise the collection of eggs. Collection activities will take place in remote areas of the state where no one is watching. To ensure that all requirements are enforced, WGFD personnel need to be present to monitor egg collection activities.
  • The licensee must be held accountable for actions of his contractors. If something goes wrong during the operation, such as a violation of egg collection limits, experience tells us that the licensee will attempt to escape liability by blaming the contractor for the violation rather than accepting responsibility for the incident. If a contractor hired by the licensee violates the law, that violation should be considered a violation of the licensee.
  • Recordkeeping requirements must be strengthened. The proposed rule requires, among other things, that the licensee report eggs damaged or destroyed during the collection process, and count those eggs as part of the licensee’s maximum authorized egg collection total for the year. This provision should be revised to require reporting of all eggs damaged or destroyed at any point in the process: from collection, to transportation, to placing in the facility. For example, if a vehicle transporting eggs crashes, or if an egg incubator at a facility malfunctions, or if a holding facility burns to the ground or collapses under snow weight, any of which could result in substantial losses, those significant events should be reported and accounted for.
  • Impose penalties for non-compliance. The proposed rule states that the WGFD may suspend, revoke or not renew the certification granted to a licensee if violations occur. Yet minor game and fish violations may generate a substantial ticket or even jail time. Why should game bird farm operators be treated any differently?
  • Strengthen bad actor requirements. The proposed rule allows the WGFD to deny a licensee whose certification has been revoked for bad behavior from reapplying for a new certificate for 18 months. The rule should be strengthened to ensure that bad actors can’t simply reapply under a different corporate name. A time period greater than 18 months should also be imposed.
  • Expand restrictions on methods of the collection of eggs. The proposed rule allows the use of pointing breed dogs, but does not limit their number or the number of human handlers that may be actively searching for nests. It seems prudent to place limits on these numbers to minimize disturbance to nesting sage-grouse.
  • Limit the release of sage-grouse to non-core areas. The proposed rule allows the WGFD to “restrict areas of the state from sage grouse release to protect wild populations of sage grouse.” To protect the genetic integrity of the greater sage-grouse, we recommend that farm raised birds not be released into core population areas of the state.
  • Prohibit genetic manipulation. To protect the genetic integrity of the species, the WGFD rule should prohibit the licensee from engaging in activities that are designed to alter the natural genetic composition of sage-grouse, e.g. selective breeding for size, adaptability, survival, etc.
  • Specify the maximum number of nests and egg collection areas that may be disturbed, by each licensee and in total. Enrolled Act 91 provides that “no more than forty (40) nest sites in a single collection area may be disturbed by the game bird farm licensee in any calendar year.” But the law does not place any limit on the number of licensees who may enter each collection area or on the number of collection sites that may be utilized in any given year. This deficiency must be corrected in the proposed rule. As it stands now, because these important decisions are deferred to the Certificate of Compliance from the Department, in theory every single one of the licensees authorized by the WGFD could disturb as many as 40 nests per collection area, apparently with no limit on the number of collection areas that could be targeted. To better protect wild sage-grouse, the rule being developed by WGFD should establish firm upper limits on both the number of designated collection areas and on the number of nests that may be disturbed in each collection area by each licensee and in total.
  • Require a strong monitoring program. Because something of this scale has never been done before (as scientists and wildlife managers have long-opposed its need or efficacy for greater sage-grouse), the efforts must have a rigorous monitoring program to determine the success of the program in a statistically-valid manner.  Monitoring should be done for both the released birds and for the wild population where pen-raised sage-grouse are being released.  This is important because researchers have reported that release programs have negatively impacted wild populations by (1) decreasing breeding success of wild individuals, (2) increasing predation of the population in general, (3) spreading disease, and (4) weakening genetics of the wild population.

Thank you for your help in raising these concerns with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The proposed rule will eventually go before the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission for further consideration and final adoption on August 23. Also on August 23, please consider attending the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission hearing in Casper to provide your comments in person.

If you’d like to learn more about the issue, we’ve collected a few recent news headlines and reports below for further reading:

• News: Experts: Zinke’s sage grouse review plan a flop. WyoFile. June 13, 2017.
• Story and Photo Essay: Sunrise and Sage-Grouse on Sacred Ground. Medium. June 12, 2017.

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