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In the southeastern corner of Wyoming exists a vast expanse of desert land
broken by astoundingly deep rims, badland uplifts and intricately sculpted
vertical spires (
view photos). This desert
landscape is as wild as can be imagined, and is home to mountain lions,
ferruginous hawks, black-tailed prairie dogs, wild horses and burrowing
owls. It is a very special place, and has been identified in the past by the
National Park Service has a potential National Park. The region encompasses
the Adobe Town Wilderness Study Area, which (at 85,710 acres) is the largest
Wilderness Study Area in Wyoming. However, wild and natural areas extend
much farther than originally proposed; Biodiversity Associates and other
citizens have conducted extensive fieldwork and found that almost 100,000
additional acres adjacent to Adobe Town are of wilderness quality and deserve
full protection. These wildlands have been included in a citizens' proposal
for wilderness.
The Citizens’ Proposed Adobe Town Wilderness is now threatened
by oil and gas exploration, but you can help save it.
Unfortunately, the BLM has given preliminary authorization to the Veritas Haystacks Seismic Exploration Project, an oil and gas exploration project in the Adobe Town Wilderness Study Area (WSA) and the Citizens’ Proposed Wilderness. The project would allow “thumper buggies”, all-terrain vehicles that pound the earth with giant hammers, to drive off-road across the proposed wilderness, destroying vegetation and scarring the landscape.
Beyond this immediate harm, the project also poses long-term threats to the wilderness values of the area. An oil and gas company won’t invest money in exploration if the presence of oil and gas isn’t likely. So chances are that, after the exploration has been completed, oil and gas wells will soon mar this pristine landscape.
The Citizens’ Adobe Town Wilderness is worth far more than the oil or gas it may yield. Please write a letter to the BLM, by August 20, asking that the exploration project be dropped and that this amazing place be protected forever. You may want to include the following points in your correspondence:
The BLM must address the recently submitted Citizens’ Adobe
Town Wilderness proposal.
While the BLM was deciding if it should allow oil and gas exploration in the Adobe Town Region, Biodiversity Associates and other groups submitted a huge document (based upon substantial fieldwork) proving beyond a doubt (with hundreds of photos) that more than 100,000 acres near Adobe Town possess remarkable wilderness qualities. However, the BLM has not acknowledged this document and is acting as though an expansive wilderness does not exist beyond the Wilderness Study Area boundaries.
- Please demand that the BLM, before taking any other action, assess the wilderness qualities of the proposed Citizens’ Adobe Town Wilderness.
- Also, please tell the BLM to honor its commitment to protect the Adobe Town Wilderness Study Area as de facto wilderness and to not permit oil and gas exploration to tresspass inside its boundairies.
The BLM must complete a full Environmental Impact Statement.
Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) are drafted by federal agencies to determine how a proposed action might impact the environment. An EIS is required by law whenever impacts may significantly harm the landscape. Unfortunately, the BLM has refused to complete an EIS for this project.
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