Better Planning for National Forests Needed

The Bridger-Teton National Forest spans three counties in western Wyoming. The Bridger-Teton offers incredible hunting opportunities and unparalleled hiking, camping and skiing. The Forest also attracts tourists from around the country and the world to see its myriad wildlife species including elk, deer, moose, grizzlies, wolves, lynx, bald eagles, sage grouse, and countless other species. But today, the Bridger-Teton National Forest faces grave threats from industry. We are working to prevent the industrialization of our National Forest.

Travel Planning on the Bridger-Teton National Forest
The travel plan has not been updated since 1974 and is out of date with current science and advances in technology of off-road vehicles. Currently the Bridger-Teton travel plan allows unrestricted motorized travel in 255,830 acres on the forest. We know that this unregulated motorized traffic has damaged our forest, dirtied our streams, and spread noxious weeds. Unrestricted motorized use has also negatively impacted game and other wildlife species, including elk, moose, deer, and grizzly and black bears. The forest belongs to all of us. Motorized recreation can and should be allowed in the forest, but it must be limited and regulated. Some places in the forest are simply too special, wild or delicate to allow motorized use.

The Forest Service’s final draft should include the following:
• Protection for the Palisades and Shoal Creek Wilderness Study Areas, which have recently seen an increase in OHV use. Close Cottonwood Creek and Taylor Mountain roads in these WSAs.
• Protect the current roadless areas — Munger Mountain, Raspberry Ridge, and Leidy Highlands.
• Eliminate off-trail travel on routes that enter Grand Teton National Park and allow for illegal trespass.
• Support for Alternative B, which allows for the least amount of motorized routes and provides the most secure habitat for wildlife.

You can read the DEIS and find maps of the alternatives here.

Read Sierra Club's comments on the DEIS here.

Protecting the Wyoming Range
Wyoming’s namesake mountains, the Wyoming Range, offer unparalleled hunting, angling and recreational opportunities but they have been increasingly threatened by oil and gas drilling proposals. Located entirely within the Bridger-Teton National Forest, the 100-mile range is home to elk, mule deer, four species of cutthroat trout, sage grouse, grizzlies and wolves and abuts the Gros Ventre Wilderness. The Wyoming Range also forms the southern leg of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem – one of the last remaining intact temperate ecosystems in the world.

In recent years there has been a massive boom in oil and gas drilling in southwestern Wyoming. Thousands of acres have been developed, fundamentally changing the character of Wyoming. The Pinedale Anticline and Jonah Field, to the east of the Wyoming Range, have been experiencing rapid rates of industrialization. In fact, a recent BLM drilling proposal received the EPA’s lowest score as it will have significant impacts on air and water quality.

In an effort to protect this area a bill was introduced into Congress last fall, which would remove much of the range from oil and gas leasing. At a time when Wyoming’s special places are threatened by increasingly aggressive energy exploration, this bill would protect 1.2 million acres from future oil and gas leasing and would provide current leaseholders the opportunity to sell their leases back to the government.

Protecting the Wyoming Range will enhance the tourism, recreation, and sportsmen opportunities within the region and forever preserve the Wyoming Range as a key part of Wyoming’s natural heritage. Many outfitters and businesses in the area rely on the Wyoming Range’s unparalleled habitat and recreational opportunities to sustain their business.

A unique collaboration of hunters, anglers, sportsmen, recreationists and conservationists came together to work toward passage of a bill that would protect the Wyoming Range for future generations. In addition, the bill enjoys bipartisan support from state and federal elected officials. The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, the Wyoming Travel and Tourism Board, and major newspapers support protecting the Wyoming Range.