It is always hard to lose a member of the conservation community because each one is needed and valued. But when we lose one of our own staff members, long-time volunteer and staunch advocate for protecting the environment, the loss is acute. J. Michael “Mike” Oxley, who had been filling in for BCA this summer as our Community Organizer, passed away on August 24 while in Nederland, Colorado, tabling for BCA at the NedFest event. NedFest was Mike’s favorite summer tabling event. Mike was one of those rare people who always found the time to combine his passion for the environment with his unflagging advocacy in preserving it. He loved life and lived every day to the fullest. Mike’s enthusiasm for everything he did was contagious and we will truly miss his sunny outlook on life. Mike’s life partner is Sarah Egolf who is BCA’s Development Director. Mike’s family and Sarah have set up a memorial fund for Mike and anyone wishing to make a contribution can send it to: J. Michael Oxley Memorial Fund, P. O. Box 1833, Laramie, WY 82073.

SPEAK OUT AT THE OCT. 24-25 HEARING FOR THE ADOBE TOWN VERY RARE OR UNCOMMON PETITION

The Wyoming Environmental Quality Council (EQC) has set a date of October 24th and 25th for its formal hearing on BCA's Very Rare on Uncommon petition for Adobe Town. This designation would protect the area from non-coal surface mining, such as oil shale mining, gravel pits, and uranium mining. To view the petition and Adobe Town's qualifications for protection under state law, visit http://www.voiceforthewild.org/greatdivide/pubs/AdobeTownRare_and_Uncommon.doc. If the EQC adopts the designation to protect all of Adobe Town, BLM may do its part to set aside unprotected lands surrounding the Wilderness Study Area from future oil and gas leasing. The hearing will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Rock Springs. Come out and support protection for Adobe Town!

BCA NEGOTIATES NEW STATE RULES TO PROTECT WATER QUALITY

After more than a year of behind-the scenes negotiations with the Wyoming Dept. of Environmental Quality and industry representatives, BCA and Trout Unlimited have stimulated a new state rulemaking that governs the discharge of pollutants (particularly CBM wastewater) upstream if Class I waters designated for protection under the Clean Water Act.

The new rules prevent effluent discharges that will cause measurable degradation of the baseline quality of Class I waters, essentially meaning that operators will need to treat wastewater to approximate background water quality before releasing it. This rulemaking will likely afford strong protection for the Miracle Mile, a blue ribbon trout fishery on the North Platte mainstem below Seminoe Reservoir, which has been slated to be the dumping ground of millions of gallons of salty wastewater under the 1,240-well Seminoe Road Coalbed Methane project. We're now hearing that this project has been put on hold in the wake of the DEQ rulemaking. This is a great positive step that the State has made to protect important waters. You can view the new policy at:
http://deq.state.wy.us/wqd /watershed/surfacestandards/Downloads/Standards/InterimPolicy_EffluentLimitsforClass1Tributaries.pdf

 

LOGGING IN THE NORBECK WILDLIFE PRESERVE

Since February 2006 when the Black Hills National Forest (BHNF) began implementing the Phase II Amendment to the revised Forest management plan, logging projects on the forest have been proposed at an alarming rate. One of the most recent projects is a proposal to log in the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve and conduct extensive prescribed burning in the Black Elk Wilderness Area. The Norbeck project is particularly troubling because it targets some of the last intact old growth in the forest and because it is being proposed under the guise of improving wildlife habitat—the only legal way the Forest Service can conduct logging activities in the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve. But if implemented, the Norbeck timber sale will actually destroy and further fragment critical habitat for native species dependent upon the old growth forest, such as the northern goshawk, brown creeper, mountain goat, northern flying squirrel, and black-backed woodpecker. BCA will continue to be a watchdog for these projects and a strong voice for preservation of habitat for native species.

BCA SEEKING WYOMING POCKET GOPHER PROTECTION UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

On August 7, 2007 BCA filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Wyoming pocket gopher as Threatened or Endangered under the Endangered Species Act and to designate its tiny range as Critical Habitat. BCA’s effort to protect one of North America’s rarest and least known mammals is essential for the continued survival of this tiny soil tiller and conditioner. Wyoming pocket gophers serve to aerate, hydrate, and loosen rocky soil in a way beneficial to vegetation struggling to survive naturally harsh conditions. This vegetation, in turn, nourishes gophers and larger herbivores. The Wyoming pocket gopher, like the greater sage grouse and other wildlife, is under immediate threat from three oil and gas developments. The Desolation Flats, Continental Divide-Creston, and Atlantic Rim projects essentially cover the Wyoming pocket gopher’s entire range. Most immediately threatening the Wyoming pocket gopher is the Atlantic Rim Coalbed Methane Project. While BCA awaits an initial response to our petition from US Fish & Wildlife (due early November), Wyoming Natural Diversity Database is conducting surveys to better establish the presence, range, and distribution of these most rare and elusive creatures. Read more about the Atlantic Rim project and the Wyoming pocket gopher in BCA’s Spring and Summer 2007 Voice for the Wild Newsletters, respectively, at: http://www.voiceforthewild.org/general/newsletter.html