Red Desert

Protecting the Red Desert

Wyoming's high deserts have now become one of the primary targets of the oil and gas industry. Bulldozers and drilling rigs are already gobbling up some of our most pristine wildlands and most sensitive wildlife habitats. And now, the BLM is rewriting its 20-year land use plan for the 3.5 million acres of public land in the Great Divide region and the Jack Morrow Hills region. The new plan should balance energy development compatibly with recreation, water quality, and wildlife. But it could open most of these public lands to industrialization as gas fields and strip mines.