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LEGISLATURE PROPOSES BILL TO PREVENT VERY RARE OR UNCOMMON PROTECTIONS
The Wyoming legislature is currently considering new legislation that would prevent the Environmental Quality Council (EQC) from considering the designation of any new Very Rare or Uncommon areas after July 1st of this year. The bill, titled House Bill 152, was passed by the state House of Representatives today and now is headed to the Senate. This conservation designation arises out of the state's Environmental Quality Act. A handful of areas have been given the very Rare or Uncommon designation, including Adobe Town and Bessemer Bend, a popular fishing area west of Casper. The designation restricts non-coal surface mining but has no effect on other land uses. Tell your state senator to vote "NO!" on House Bill 152. The EQC deserves the opportunity to give this measure of protection to Wyoming's Very Rare or Uncommon landscapes.
GATEWAY WEST TRANSMISSION LINES: COMMENT PERIOD COMING SOON!
Electrical Transmission Tower
(Photo by Gateway West Project)
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BCA has been monitoring the development of Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power's Gateway West transmission line project from the beginning. In coming weeks or months a comment period will open for the public.
Be watching for a BCA Alert!
Tell the Bureau of Land Management to protect:
- Wyoming's wild landscapes;
- wildlife; and
- historical trails and places as it permits the east to west route that this major transmission line will take across our wild and wonderful state.
US FISH & WILDLIFE ORDERED TO REEVALUATE
CRITICAL HABITAT FOR ENDANAGERED CANADA LYNX
In 2006, the USFWS limited critical habitat for lynx to 1,840 square miles in Minnesota, Montana and Washington. In 2009 the Service expanded, in response to a court order, the wildcat's critical habitat to 39,000 square miles in Montana, Maine, Minnesota, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington. But the Fish & Wildlife Service still did not include the Southern Rockies as critical lynx habitat.
Canada Lynx
(Photo by Wyoming Game
& Fish Department)
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Last summer U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled that US Fish & Willdlife had wrongly excluded critical habitat occupied by Canada lynx in southwest Montana, north and central Idaho and Colorado. The Fish and Wildlife Service filed an appeal of that ruling, saying it had acted correctly in using lynx reproduction criteria and excluding areas where the cats currently roam.
Fish & Wildlife's appeal of Molloy's ruling prompted more legal action in 2010 by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Sierra Club, Native Ecosystems Council and Center for Native Ecosystems calling for inclusion of the Southern Rockies when Fish & Wildlife evaluated for the lynx's critical habitat.
BCA was not a party to the legal action the groups took but we, by supplying important lynx scientific information, were key in convincing the plaintiffs to follow through with their complaint.
Fish & Wildlife originally appealed the federal court's most recent order that requires the Service to reevaluate lynx critical habitat based on their entire range and not just where their core populations remain. In a welcome turnabout in January 2011, the Service dropped its appeal so now it must look at all occupied lynx habitats to see if they are important to the conservation and recovery of lynx. This is a good turn of events for the endangered Canada lynx.
BRIDGER-TETON NF APPROVES VICTORY
FOR CONSERVATION IN THE WYOMING RANGE!
Wyoming Range
(Photo by Ray Bloxham)
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The Forest Service has made a major pro-conservation decision on oil and gas leasing in the Wyoming Range. The decision covers over 44,000 acres of oil and gas leases that were left unprotected by the Wyoming Range Legacy Act. The leases straddle the area along the Hoback Rim where Plains Exploration is currently proposing a 136-well drilling project. The Forest Service rejected arguments that these leases should be allowed to go forward, and instead decided not to issue the leases to oil and gas corporations. We applaud the Forest Service for taking the direction we advocated for in our comments on the project. The Wyoming Outdoor Council deserves the lion's share of the credit for this victory.
ROCK SPRINGS BLM BEGINS REVISION OF LONG-TERM PLAN FOR WESTERN RED DESERT
Killpecker Dunes
(Photo by BCA)
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has kicked off the long-term land use plan for 3.6 million acres of public land in southwestern Wyoming, encompassing the western Red Desert. The northern half of Adobe Town as well as the Jack Morrow Hills planning area, two of Wyoming's most important crown jewel landscapes, will be up for grabs in the plan revision. For those of you who remember the epic conservation battle over the Jack Morrow Hills, which ended with a third of the area getting long-term protection, this plan revision offers an opportunity to extend conservation protections to the rest of this area. In Adobe Town, the BLM's old plan left the "Monument Valley Management Area" as unfinished business with a potential Area of Critical Environmental Concern that never got designated. Wildlife protections for the next 15 years will also be decided in the plan revision, as will the review of lands that possess wilderness character and have the potential to be protected as "Wild Lands" under the new Obama administration policy. Watch for alerts telling you where and when "scoping meetings" will occur starting in late February in Lander, Rock Springs, Lyman, and Farson. Public comments to determine the range of issues to be addressed in the the new plan are being accepted until April 4th.
YOU CAN SHOP ONLINE AND SUPPORT BCA
What if Biodiversity Conservation Alliance - BCA earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Or what if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? It can! Just shop online using GoodSearch.com and Support BCA!
GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!
GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall that donates up to 30 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, eBay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause.
And if you download the GoodSearch - Biodiversity Conservation Alliance - BCA toolbar, our cause will earn money every time you shop and search online — even if you forget to go to GoodShop or GoodSearch first!
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073
(307) 742-7978 - darcy@voiceforthewild.org
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