October 3, 2008

Help Fortify the Fortification Creek Area with More Wildlife Protections
Comments are due by October 7, 2008

The Bureau of Land Management has released its draft plan for Fortification Creek for public comment. This area of rugged breaks along the Powder River contains some of the last grassland wilderness in the Powder River Basin and is home to a unique High Plains elk herd.
 
Fortification Creek is in the sights of the BLM for a massive energy development scheme involving the extraction of coalbed methane.
 
The Fortification Creek Area has over 100,000 acres of important wildlife habitat for elk, sage grouse and many other species. This area is also home to wild landscapes including a wilderness study area and citizens' proposed wilderness.
 
The BLM's proposed plan doesn't do enough to protect the wildlife and wild country of Fortification Creek. Such preferred management alternatives include having overhead power lines, discharge of CBM water directly into waterways, a 50% loss of security habitat for elk, and no winter time limits on drilling. At risk are key habitats for sage grouse and other prairie birds, an elk herd that numbers around 230 head, and wild landscapes that contain wilderness qualities for future designation.
 
Tell the BLM that these wildlife and wildland resources are too important to our Wyoming outdoor heritage, and the Fortification Creek plan amendment must have stronger wildlife protections before any energy development at all is considered for the area.
 
Help Fortify Fortification Creek !
 
Send your comments by October 7, 2008 to:
 
Chris Hanson
Field Office Manager
Bureau of Land Management
Buffalo Field Office
1425 Fort Street
Buffalo, Wyoming 82834
 
For more information, contact Wayne Prindle at wayne@voiceforthewild.org.
 
Thank you for speaking out against irresponsible energy development on our public lands!