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BCA Backs Plan to Preserve Open Space, Aquifer Recharge Lands Near Laramie
Casper Aquifer Recharge Area
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Biodiversity Conservation Alliance has thrown its support behind a proposed land swap that would give the Y Cross Ranch, currently owned jointly by the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University, to the F.E. Warren Livestock Company in exchange for establishing a 10,000-acre State Park on the eastern edge of Laramie and conveying tens of millions of dollars to the two universities. Preservation of the open space, extending from the city limits to the crest of the Laramie Range, would protect vulnerable aquifer recharge areas from likely development for trophy homes and commercial real estate, would provide public open space to safeguard the viewshed from Laramie, and would provide public access from town to the Medicine Bow National Forest for hikers, trail runners, and mountain bikers.
The Laramie business community has recognized the importance of having a major recreational and open space asset at the edge of town for recruiting qualified professionals as well as new high-tech industries, and bank president Dan Furphy lobbied the University of Wyoming Trustees on its behalf together with Laramie Mayor Scott Mullner, Albany County Commission Chair Tim Sullivan, BCA's Erik Molvar, and several others in September. This land swap is complicated by sensitive land negotiations, which are always tricky, and different parties jockeying for the most favorable terms. But it is gaining support and momentum, and even if the land swap falls through, it may lead to other opportunities to acquire the sensitive lands for open space protection.
Chokecherry Wind Project a Disaster for Sage Grouse
BLM Simulation of Chokecherry Wind
Farm from Continental Divide Trail
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A thousand-turbine wind farm proposed for the ridges just south of Rawlins is now open for public comment. The project is broken up into two units: Chokecherry in the north, along the hogbacks south of Interstate 80, and the Sierra Madre unit, at Miller Hill, a popular hunting area. Most of the Chokecherry unit and all of the Sierra Madre unit were originally designated as Sage Grouse Core Area under state policy, because it included high-value sage grouse breeding areas and nesting habitat. But Anschutz's group lobbied the state's Sage Grouse Implementation Team to change the boundaries, and this industry-weighted body was more than happy to comply. If the turbines are built as proposed within 5 miles of sage grouse leks, or traditional dancing and breeding sites, the sage grouse populations are likely to be decimated. This is Wyoming's worst example of a wind farm that has unacceptably high environmental costs, which negate its 'green energy' generation.
BCA and Allies Beat Back Adobe Town Drilling, New Threats Loom
Desolation Road Area
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Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Natural resources Defense Council, The Wilderness Society, and Defenders of Wildlife won a significant victory in our three-year battle to halt the Desolation Road drilling project in northern Adobe Town when Samson Resources canceled its remaining drilling permit for the project.
The likelihood of losing the court battle and creating new precedent was likely the deciding factor that compelled Sampson to cancel its drilling permit and go back to the drawing board. However, it's not the end of the battle in this area — Samson has applied for a new drilling permit in the lands to the southeast, inside the boundaries of the Desolation Flats project, where BLM completed an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in 2005.
The agency's approval of the project without an EIS was central to our case against the Desolation Road project. We plan to keep fighting to keep the drillings rigs out of these fragile and beautiful badlands.
Lander BLM Plan Proposes Groundbreaking Wildlife Measures
Beaver Rim
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At a meeting last week between BLM officials and conservationists from across Wyoming, the BLM rolled out new "timing stipulations" for sensitive wildlife habitats. The measures would cover big game winter ranges and sage grouse nesting habitat, and instead of simply prohibiting only construction and drilling activities during the sensitive season of use, they would prevent all industrial-related activities throughout the life of any project. The old timing stipulations went away as soon as construction and drilling projects were finished, which meant that for the next 20 to 50 years that the oil and gas field was operating, there would be no restrictions on vehicle traffic or human activity to protect the wildlife during their crucially sensitive seasons. BCA struck a similar agreement with the Bill Barrett Corporation when we settled our appeal against the Big Porcupine Coalbed Methane Project in the Thunder Basin National Grassland, and have been advocating for this strengthening of timing measures, which up to this point have provided more "feel-good" window-dressing than actual protection for wildlife. If these measures make it into the final plan, the scientific community will be able to test the hypothesis that a well-field without human activity can coexist with wildlife on sensitive habitats.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Speeds Up Wildlife Protection Decision-Making Process
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
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A groundbreaking lawsuit was filed back in 2004 by BCA against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for failing to make timely progress on the listing decisions of candidate plants and wildlife, candidate meaning those species being considered for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. Subsequent to BCA's lawsuit, Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians filed similar lawsuits and have since reach settlements with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requiring the Service to review the status of hundreds of rare animals and plants for possible protection under the ESA and to make initial or final decisions, by year 2018, on whether to add the candidate plants and animals to the Endangered species list.
After the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians, both of which were parties to BCA's 2004 "Warranted But Precluded" case, successfully settled on their cases BCA and partner, Rocky Mountain Wild, decided that the WEG/CBD settlements largely addressed the claims raised in our 2004 case. We decided to drop our case, a strategic legal action that actually helped to expedite the settlements.
In essence, BCA's 2004 case paved the way for the eventual WEG and CBD settlements and resulted in accelerated listing timelines for imperiled wildlife like the Dakota skipper, Lower Colorado River population of the round-tailed chub, yellow-billed cuckoo, upper Missouri River population of the Arctic grayling, the yellow-billed loon and hundreds of other candidate species throughout the nation.
Thanks for using your voice for the wild!
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073
(307) 742-7978 - jennifer@voiceforthewild.org
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