Please keep the 32-ton seismic trucks from being unleashed on sensitive roadless areas. More info and talking points below, or visit http://www.voiceforthewild.org/blm/news/n10mar05.html Comments due by Monday, April 11th to Tom Foertsch, Rawlins BLM, P.O. Box 2407, Rawlins, WY 82301 or via e-mail at rawlins_wymail@blm.gov.

BLM Energy Exploration Project Threatens Fragile Badlands

The BLM recently released a proposal to allow seismic exploration for oil and gas in the southern part of Adobe Town as well as the Powder Rim and Kinney Rim areas. Called the Cherokee West 3D Seismic Project, the principal method of exploration would use 64,000-pound "vibroseis buggies," commonly known as thumper trucks, that would drive cross-country in a grid pattern a quarter mile apart. Thumper trucks destroy sagebrush and leave behind intrusive scars that can last for years. The thumper trucks could roll as early as this summer. The project would include the southern quarter of Adobe Town, including the wilderness-quality "Adobe Town Fringe" areas that are currently proposed for protection under one alternative in the Great Divide plan revision. These lands, along with the Prehistoric Rim, contain fragile badlands and pillars rich in fossil resources, which could sustain heavy damage from thumper trucks or seismic explosions.

Crucial Habitat Impacted

In addition, the Powder Rim, an area of crucial winter range for elk, deer, and pronghorn and one of Wyoming's largest woodlands of ancient juniper, would be heavily impacted by this project in spite of the fact that it has been proposed as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern under the Western Heritage Alternative for the Great Divide plan revision.

How to Register Your Outrage

Tell the BLM that these are among the most sensitive lands in the Red Desert, and are no place for intensive off-road travel by heavy equipment. Tell the BLM: -Thumper trucks cause excessive environmental impacts, and should not be allowed anywhere in fragile desert lands; -Off-road travel by heavy equipment should not be allowed in the Adobe Town and Kinney Rim citizens' proposed wilderness areas, or in the Powder Rim proposed Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Only hand-laid geophone lines and helicopter-supported shot-hole methods should be allowed in these areas; -This exploration proposal should wait until after the Great Divide land management plan is revised, so that areas slated for protection are not damaged before decisions are reached.

Send in your comments by Monday, April 11th to Tom Foertsch, Rawlins BLM, P.O. Box 2407, Rawlins, WY 82301 or via e-mail at rawlins_wymail@blm.gov.

Would you like to see pictures of Adobe Town? Visit our Adobe Town Photo Album at http://www.voiceforthewild.org/general/photoalbum/adobetown/rd_photo4.html

Your Efforts Make a Huge Difference for the Crown Jewels of the Red Desert.

Thank you for all you do. -Sarah Egolf, Travis Murphy and Erik Molvar