The McCullough Peaks badlands cover over 50,000 acres of canyons, pinnacles, and rimrock in the heart of Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin. This area has been proposed for wilderness status, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has given parts of the McCullough Peaks some limited protections as a Wilderness Study Area. But now the BLM is planning to designate vehicle routes throughout the proposed wilderness for all-terrain vehicle use, even though illegal, off-trail all-terrain vehicle use is already causing major damage to parts of the badlands. View photos of the McCullough Peaks proposed wilderness.

Your comments are needed by May 31st!

The agency is now receiving comments on the McCullough Peaks Travel Management Plan, which covers the proposed wilderness as well as a large area to the south of it. So far, the BLM has bowed to pressure from hard-core anti-environment forces on the local county commission and off-road vehicle interest groups, and proposes to open virtually every track and trail to motorized use. A strong show of support is needed for wilderness and responsible land stewardship, to get the BLM to keep off-road vehicles out of the most sensitive landscapes. Please send a letter to the Cody BLM, and tell the agency that:

Off-road vehicles don’t belong in the fragile badland areas, particularly in the 54,000 acres proposed for wilderness status under citizen inventories;

• The agency needs to provide a balance between primitive, non-motorized recreation opportunities and ORV use, instead of allowing off-road vehicles everywhere;
• The BLM must perform an analysis of the impacts of off-road vehicle use in the McCullough Peaks area on wildlife, landscapes, and other forms of recreation, including projected impacts from illegal, off-trail use;
• The BLM needs to perform an on-the-ground inventory of archaeological sites eligible for the National Register of Historic Places along routes where off-road vehicle use will occur.

If you would like additional resources to write your comment letter, BCA has written a detailed analysis of the McCullough Peaks Travel Management Plan and its environmental assessment.

Send your comments to:
Stephanie Sironen
Cody BLM
P.O. Box 518
Cody, WY 82414

or via e-mail to cody_wymail@blm.gov.

Comments must be sent by May 31, 2004.