BIODIVERSITY BROADCAST
Email Newsletter for July 2005

Contents:
1. BCA Appeals Medicine Bow Platte River Grazing Plan
2. Black Hills National Forest Spared from Harmful Mining
3. Victory in the Powder River Basin!
4. Send Your Comments Regarding Gold Mining Project in Jack Morrow Hills
5. Public Invited on Dickie Springs Tour
6. Enter Your Photos in the Red Desert Photo Show
7. Get Involved Early in the Bridger-Teton Forest Plan
8. Wilderness Inventory Started for Casper and Bighorn Basin
9. BCA Printed Newsletter is on its Way

BCA Appeals Medicine Bow Platte River Grazing Plan
BCA has just appealed the Medicine Bow National Forest's Upper North Platte Analysis plan, which covered livestock grazing in the Bear Mountain Roadless Area, Platte Ridge Wilderness, and other parts of the Sierra Madre and Snowy Ranges stretching into Colorado. At the center of the appeal was the agency's failure to monitor and protect water quality and streamside habitats, which are ecologically important havens for a variety of wildlife.

Black Hills National Forest Spared from Harmful Mining
On June 30, BCA successfully halted a proposed strip mine expansion in the Black Hills National Forest to ensure better protection of wildlife and soils. Last March, the Forest Service approved the expansion of the Brite-X mica mine, located near Custer, South Dakota, despite the fact that the strip mining would lead to increased soil erosion, disturbance to wildlife, air pollution, and water pollution. Shortly after, BCA appealed the decision, requesting a higher officer within the Forest Service reverse the proposal to ensure stronger environmental protection. The higher officer agreed with BCA that the mine expansion failed to protect wildlife and soils on the Black Hills National Forest, and failed to consider alternative courses of action that would better protect the environment. The mining is now halted until the Forest Service emplaces stronger environmental safeguards.

Victory in the Powder River Basin!
Last month, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and American Lands Alliance scored a significant victory against the BLM's Powder River Basin coalbed methane efforts. A judge in Montana ruled that the BLM's Environmental Impact Statement on the Montana side of the border violated federal law in failing to consider environmentally friendly alternatives. BCA had argued that the BLM's drilling plan failed to consider impacts of drilling on sage grouse and black-tailed prairie dogs. This ruling follows close on the heels of a similar victory by Northern Plains Resource Council and the Cheyenne Tribe, which had halted coalbed methane drilling in Montana. The BCA victory is significant because we have filed the identical case for the Wyoming side of the Powder River Basin, and the Montana precedent sets the table for a favorable ruling on the Wyoming side of the Powder River Basin. Read more on our website at: http://www.voiceforthewild.org/general/news/n13june05.html

Send Your Comments Regarding Gold Mining Project in Jack Morrow Hills
The BLM has just released for public comment its Environmental Assessment for the Dickie Springs gold exploration project, in the northern end of the Jack Morrow Hills planning area near South Pass. The project would allow Fremont Mining Corporation to use a backhoe to dig 200 pits in stream channels in the area, which is critical to calving elk from the Steamboat Mountain herd and rich in historic legacy associated with the Oregon Trail and the early explorers of South Pass. If the digging is successful, open-pit strip mining may follow. BCA is asking the BLM to use lower-impact drift mining techniques to minimize surface impacts, and to require phased digging in which each pit is revegetated before a new pit can be dug.

Public Invited on Dickie Springs Tour
The public is invited on a field tour of the Dickie Springs project area on Saturday, July 16, 2005. An open house will be held from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Rock Springs Field Office. The tour will leave from the BLM parking lot at 9 a.m. Send your comments on this project to the Rocks Springs BLM, rock_springs_wymail@blm.gov postmarked by July 25th.

Enter Your Photos in the Red Desert Photo Show
BCA is pleased to announce our 2nd Annual Red Desert Photo Show, which will take place at Coal Creek Coffee on September 2nd. The show will feature amateur and professional divisions, and categories of "Flora & Fauna" and "Landscapes." Photographers will be encouraged to offer their work for sale, with proceeds split between the artist and BCA's Red Desert protection campaign. Last year's show drew photographers from throughout the region. Submit your Red Desert photographs, matted and framed, to the BCA office in the Old Connor Hotel at 3rd and Grand in Laramie. Prizes will be awarded for winning entries, and there is an entry fee of $5 per piece (waived for photographers under 18). Read more on our website at: http://www.voiceforthewild.org/general/news/n5july05.html

Get Involved Early in the Bridger-Teton Forest Plan
The Bridger-Teton National Forest will be holding a series of open house meetings to kick off its forest planning process. The Forest Plan is the key stage at which the agency decides which areas to log and drill and which areas to protect for wildlife and recreation. Major issues in the upcoming Bridger-Teton plan include the need to protect the roadless lands and key wildlife habitats from future oil and gas drilling, as well as maintaining core habitats and migration corridors for grizzly bears, lynx, and Colorado River cutthroat trout. Meetings will be held at the following times and locations:

Kemmerer, Tuesday, July 12, 4 p.m.–10 p.m, Ambulance Barn - 611 Onyx Street
Afton, Wednesday, July 13, 4 p.m.–10 p.m, Lincoln County School District Board Room – 222 East 4th Avenue
Alpine, Thursday, July 14, 4 p.m.-10 p.m, Alpine Civic Center – 121 Hwy. 89
Moran, Friday, July 15, 4 p.m.-10 p.m, Moran School Gym – Across from the Post Office
Rock Springs, Monday, July 18, 4 p.m.-10 p.m, Holiday Inn - 1675 Sunset Drive
Big Piney, Tuesday, July 19, 4 p.m.-10 p.m , Marbleton Fire Hall – South Hwy. 189
Pinedale, Wednesday, July 20, 4 p.m.-10 p.m., VFW Building – 1033 West Pine Street
Jackson, Thursday, July 21, 4 p.m.-10 p.m., Virginian Lodge Buffalo Rm – 750 W. Broadway

Wilderness Inventory Started for Casper and Bighorn Basin
Thanks to the efforts of Intern Carl Hemphill, BCA has begun an intensive field inventory to discover potential wilderness on public lands near Casper and in the Bighorn Basin. Already, one unit of over 30,000 acres of shortgrass prairie wilderness north of Powder River has been identified, and also an oil well was discovered near the fringe of the unit that was discharging sludge and chemicals into local waterways at an estimated rate of 50 gallons per minute. As a result, we are now pursuing legal remedies under the Clean Water Act. BCA inventories in the past have identified a great deal of unprotected wilderness, and significant parts of these areas, like the Pinnacles and additions to Adobe Town and the Ferris Mountains, are likely to get strong protection through the Great Divide and Jack Morrow Hills plans. We are working toward the same result in the BLM's Casper, Worland, and Cody plans, which are forthcoming.

BCA Printed Newsletter is on its Way
The initial edition of BCA's printed newsletter, The Voice for the Wild, is on its way. The first edition of this publication, filled with in-depth analysis of the region's most pressing conservation issues, will be sent to everyone on our mailing list; subsequent editions will be sent to all BCA members. Join BCA today to receive the full year subscription!

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Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073
(307) 742-7978 - maggie@voiceforthewild.org