SHERIDAN – Conservationists today blasted a Bureau of Land Management plan to designate the McCullough Peaks Wilderness Study Area for motorized use. The McCullough Peaks Travel Management Plan encompasses 54,000 acres of wilderness-quality badlands just east of Cody, in the heart of the Bighorn Basin. A little under half of the eligible lands are currently designated as a Wilderness Study Area, which protects these lands from industrial impacts. Located within minutes of Powell and Cody, the McCullough Peaks offers some of the most accessible desert wilderness in the state.

"Over fifty thousand acres of singular and outstanding badlands in the McCullough Peaks area is proposed by Wyoming citizens for wilderness protection,” said Liz Howell of the Wyoming Wilderness Association. “It’s important for Cody residents to know that the National Park Service nominated this area as a National Natural Landmark for its exceptional scenery – its protection would enhance their tourist–based economy,"

In addition to designating over a hundred miles of routes for motor vehicle use in surrounding lands, the Travel Management Plan designates approximately 24 miles of vehicles ways for motorized use within the lands proposed for wilderness.

“The McCullough Peaks badlands are a very fragile desert area, with steep slopes, delicate vegetation, and soil that is extremely vulnerable to erosion,” said Erik Molvar of Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “This area is absolutely the wrong place to promote motorized recreation.”

The long-term management plan already in place for the Cody BLM directs the agency to manage for both off-road vehicle use and primitive recreation, and yet the McCullough Peaks travel plan designates ATV trails in the heart of one of the Bighorn Basin’s best remaining areas for primitive recreation area. “There is absolutely no balance in this plan,” said Kirk Koepsel of the Sierra Club. “This plan opens virtually every possible route for motorized vehicles, and the noise and disturbance from this activity will penetrate into every corner of the proposed wilderness.”

“The real shame is that the northwest corner of the area has been badly scarred by irresponsible ATV users, and instead of stopping the damage, the BLM is formalizing motorized travel throughout lands that deserve wilderness protection,” added Molvar.

The groups also blasted the BLM’s failure to analyze the impacts of motorized recreation on the badlands. The Environmental Assessment for the plan ignored many types of rare plants and wildlife, and failed to include a route-by-route study of archeological sites, which are very abundant in this area.

"The BLM needs to stop the off-road motorized abuse and protect the wilderness values of the McCullough Peaks," concluded Howell.

Photos of the McCullough Peaks are available for publication (photos by Erik Molvar):

• A photo of the Wilderness Study Area
• A photo of the unprotected wilderness lands