Dear Concerned Citizen,

Wyoming's wild deserts need your help! The BLM is in the final stages of taking public comments on the Great Divide plan revision, which covers 3.5 million acres of public lands, including the eastern half of the Red Desert and sensitive landscapes like Adobe Town and the Powder Rim. Some of Wyoming's most outstanding desert ecosystems are at stake, the last strongholds of rare wildlife like the black-footed ferret and ferruginous hawk.

Our wild places need you to write the BLM and demand significant reforms in oil and gas drilling methods, to minimize the impact on the environment.

The BLM's preferred alternative continues to emphasize oil and gas drilling as the dominant use of public lands, with recreation and wildlife concerns as lower priorities. Under the BLM's Preferred Alternative,

• Over 90% of these public lands would be open to industrial-scale oil and gas drilling, and drill over six times as many wells under the new plan as are allowed under the existing one, when drilling is already proceeding at a record pace.
• Sensitive big game winter ranges and migration corridors, as well as important habitats for rare wildlife would continue to get only the token protection of seasonal restrictions, which allow industrialization of the most fragile areas as long as construction occurs during less sensitive times of year.
• Important parts of Adobe Town would be opened to drilling, while potential wilderness in the Pedro Mountains and Wild Cow Creek would not even be considered for protection.
• Almost 3,000 identified respected places that are important to Native Americans, archeologists, and trails enthusiasts, hundreds of which are eligible for designation on the National Register of Historic Places, would get not special protection.
• Air pollution in the Great Divide area would double, threatening air quality in protected areas and increasing levels of acid rain.
• Water quality in the North Platte and Gret Divide Basin watersheds would be degraded in many areas due to surface discharge of toxic coalbed methane wastewater
• Many of the wide open spaces that characterize this heart of the Wild West would be industrialized.

In essence, the agency proposes to endorse the same heavy-handed drilling methods as always, with six times as much drilling.

WRITE A LETTER!

Write a letter, and ask the BLM to adopt the Western Heritage Alternative, which protects sensitive landscapes in the Great Divide and ensures that development is managed in an environmentally responsible manner. Please tailor the sample letter and make it your own, adding as much of your own personal views and experiences as possible. Comment letters must be postmarked by March 17th

For a Sample Letter go to: www.voiceforthewild.org/greatdivide/letter0117.html

Where to Write:

Please send written comments by March 17th to:
Rawlins Bureau of Land Management
Attn: John Spehar
P.O. Box 2407
Rawlins, WY 82301

You can also email your comments to: comments@rawlinsrmp.com

Please make sure that your comments to the BLM are postmarked or emailed by this Thursday, March 18th, 2005.

Please send copies of your comments to Governor Freudenthal and Senator Craig Thomas:

Governor Dave Freudenthal
Governor's Office
State Capitol, Room 124
Cheyenne, WY 82002
governor@state.wy.us
Phone: (307) 777-7434 Fax: (307) 632-3909

Senator Craig Thomas
Office of Senator Craig Thomas
307 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
http://www.thomas.senate.gov/html/body_email.html
Phone: (202) 224-6441 Fax: (202) 224-1724