PREVENT PINEDALE WILDLIFE BLITZ WITH YOUR LETTER

Allowing year-round drilling and well completions could be the final straw for wildlife on the Pinedale Anticline.

The Bureau of Land Management just released a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for long-term oil and gas development on the Anticline. The plan would allow year-round drilling and "well completions," which have not been allowed because wildlife use the Anticline as crucial range in the winter, and because well completions involve intense disturbance levels with high traffic, high noise, and pollution. While that is already happening de facto due to the Bureau's wholesale waiver of winter stipulations, the new plan would make it permanent and seal the fate of wildlife, such as mule deer, sage grouse, and pygmy rabbits, which are already struggling for survival on the Anticline.

Please speak out against the continuing industrialization of our public lands by submitting your letter to be received by the Bureau on or before February 13, 2007. Send it to: Bureau of Land Management, PO Box 768, Pinedale, WY 82941, or by email at: WYMail_PAPA_YRA@blm.gov, including "Pinedale Anticline SEIS" in the subject line of your email. Copies of the statement can be viewed or downloaded at: http://www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/pfodocs/anticline/seis.

DEVILS GATE CLEARCUT APPROVED BY FOREST SERVICE

The Medicine Bow Forest Service has just approved the Devils Gate logging project right between the Savage Run and Platte River wilderness areas of the Snowy Range. Thanks to your help writing letters the project was improved but problems remain. A few examples follow.

Good News: Clearcutting has been reduced from 552 to 283 acres.

Bad News: 283 acres will be clearcut.
Good News: the Service dropped four acres of riparian habitat from the plan.
Bad News: Only four were spared.
Good News: One hundred acres of "old growth" forest has been spared.

Bad News: This represents a bit of a shell game as the Service shifts its clearcuts slightly.
Good News: One hundred acres of deer & elk winter range has been excluded from clearcutting.

Bad News: 612 acres remain subject to logging.

You get the idea! Logging was planned to slow a small beetle outbreak in the area; this goal is unlikely to be fulfilled since trees show no signs of beetle activity until after the insects have already left. The project is likely only to further fragment the forest in the Devil's Gate Creek area. BCA is considering its options for challenging the logging, and will offer an update in the near future. In the meantime, your continued support and advocacy is greatly appreciated.

SCREEN "THE LAND OUT OF TIME" WITH BCA AND FRIENDS

BCA and friends will hold an early screening of the film "Land Out of Time" on January 23, 2007 at the University of Wyoming Business Auditorium (at the Corner of 15th and Ivinson in Laramie) from 7-9pm. The film exposes the biggest public land grab in history as the oil and gas industry leases millions of acres of the Rocky Mountain West for drilling. Tom Bell of Lander, who appears in the film, will be a featured guest. Bell, who was inducted into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame this September, has been a stalwart voice for conservation in the West for over six decades, and founded Wyoming Outdoor Council and High Country News.

Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Wyoming Outdoor Council, and the University of Wyoming Environmental and Natural Resources Club co-sponsor the film.

STOP THE PINE-BEETLE MADNESS!

The Medicine Bow Forest Service portrays its Devil's Gate logging project as a "Forest Health Improvement" effort, claiming the Spruce Bark Beetle and Mountain Pine Beetle are attacking and killing spruce and lodgepole pine trees. Such dramatic language obscures the issue and can lead to dangerous mistakes. Yet, in months ahead the battle cry, "cut down our forests to save them from the beetles" will likely echo through the Med Bow region and inundate the news. Science does not support this short-sighted response to natural cyclical beetle outbreaks. Research shows that our forests have adapted to tolerate spikes and thrive as healthy forests since our last ice age.

A recent compelling study on this topic researched by Bill Romme, representing three Universities, was released this fall. This and other studies objectively conclude that a hands-off policy is a suitable, if not preferred, response to beetle outbreaks. As long as a "rapid board feet production" mindset overcomes sound science, we must vigilantly prevent knee-jerk responses to nature's time-tested cycles. To see the study, visit:
http://www.americanlands.org/documents/1165347344_Insect%20Outbreaks%20and%20Fire%20Risk%20in%20CO%20Forests%2012.06.pdf

BCA HAS A NEW ONLINE FUNDRAISING TOOL

For people who prefer credit cards to making contributions by check, BCA has the perfect tool. We have chosen PayPal to process our online gifts, although you don't have to have a PayPal account in order to make a transaction. That means more ways to build capacity for our mission! We're excited to have already received our first online contribution. The "click to donate" button now appears on our homepage at http://www.voiceforthewild.org. Tell your family and friends!


SEASON'S GREETINGS!