April 13th: 7pm Coal Creek Coffee Shop Slide Show Presentation

April 14th: 6:30pm Albany County Public Library (Grand Ave & 8th St). Special meeting to attract board members. Those who believe in the Sierra Club and want to make a difference are invited to hear how the group works and what can be done. Contact Bart Geerts for more info (307) 755-1857 geerts@uwyo.edu

April 25th: 7pm Sierra Club Meet Up at Altitudes Chophouse and Brewery

April 26th: 7pm University Slide Show Presentation, specific location TBA. Please contact Kate Drexler for more details. Kate.drexler@sierraclub.org (307) 733-4557.

Suzanne Lewis has been hired as BCA's first staff attorney, and will focus on administrative and legal defense work to protect wildlife and special places, particularly in the forestry and oil and gas arenas. Suzanne joins BCA after 12 years in private practice, and is taking a leading role in our conservation efforts in western Wyoming, and will likely play a central role in the Snowy Range Travel Management Plan as well. We are excited to have these two outstanding conservation advocates on our staff!

Kessler was a founding member of Friends of the Bow (BCA's original incarnation), a grassroots organization formed with other concerned citizens to stop clearcut logging in the Rock Creek area of the Medicine Bow National Forest. Jeff, along with founding staffers Leila Bruno and Don Duerr, orchestrated the long and difficult campaign to reform logging practices on the Medicine Bow, which culminated in 2004 with a Forest Plan that saw Rock Creek recommended for Wilderness designation and other important protective measures for wildlife and sensitive habitats.

For many years, Jeff was the principal voice bringing science into the public debate over land management in Wyoming. His Special Values Reports for the Jack Morrow Hills and the Great Divide combined the cutting-edge technology of GIS mapping with comprehensive scientific reviews of issues and threats facing the Red Desert. In addition, Jeff has been Wyoming's leading voice for rare native species, such as the northern goshawk, black-tailed prairie dog, and Colorado River cutthroat trout.

Under Jeff's leadership, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance grew from an all-volunteer group focused on local forest issues to a regional powerhouse staffed by hard-hitting professionals. After a long career filled with spectacular successes, this conservation legend can now enjoy a well-deserved rest. We'll miss you, Jeff!

The Wyoming Range has important habitat for lynx, bighorn sheep, Colorado River cutthroat trout, and outstanding backcountry recreation. BCA remains firmly committed to preventing industrialization of Wyoming's biggest roadless area. We applaud the public efforts of Governor Freudenthal, who has stated unconditionally that oil and gas drilling do not belong on the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Unfortunately, the Forest Service is missing a golden opportunity to close unpopular system roads, which the agency cannot maintain due to lack of funding. BCA is working to eliminate impacts in sensitive areas, and ensure that there is no net increase in the already 2,600-mile Forest road system.

Meanwhile, just to the north, a different model is being used. Shell oil is using drilling methods that radically reduce the impacts on the land. If the Jonah Field had been developed using the well-clustering method employed by Shell, the entire gas reserves (valued at over $60 billion at today's prices) could have been produced from 1/5 the wellpads, with much less impact on land and wildlife.

BCA is currently advocating to require all of the additional wells in the Jonah Field to be drilled from existing well sites, instead of destroying the remaining landscape with additional impacts.