For Immediate Release
January 11, 2006

Contact Information


LARAMIE – An appeal filed by conservation groups has resulted in a Stay of the Cherokee West Seismic Project, which would unleash 64,000-pound “thumper trucks” across pristine parts of Adobe Town, the Kinney Rim, and the Powder Rim in Wyoming’s southern Red Desert. The challenge was launched in the Interior Board of Land Appeals, an administrative law court within the U.S. Department of the Interior.

“We weren’t going to stand idly by and allow formations of 32-ton heavy equipment to drive across some of the Red Desert’s most pristine and sensitive landscapes when low-impact methods would do the job just as well,” said Erik Molvar of Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. 

Under the project, thumper trucks would drive across proposed wilderness additions in Adobe Town and the Kinney Rim, including some that are being studied for long-term protection under the BLM’s Great Divide plan revision. 

“Adobe Town is one of the most spectacular and remote of the West’s unprotected landscapes, due to the immensity of the potential wilderness and its national park quality landscapes,” remarked Liz Howell, director of the Wyoming Wilderness Association. “This decision is an important victory for the protection of Adobe Town.” 

The groups had challenged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to take a hard look at impacts to fossil resources and sensitive wildlife, that the agency did not conduct the required study of cumulative impacts to wildlife that use lands impacted by the project, and ignored their responsibility to consider lower-impact alternatives to thumper trucks that would use smaller equipment and keep off-road vehicle traffic out of proposed wilderness areas.

The court ruled in favor of the conservation groups, and indicated a strong likelihood of success on the merits on the issue of fossil resources.

“This area is known worldwide for its fossils of ancient mammals from the Eocene period, locally covering dates between 57 and 45 million years ago,” said Dr. Jason Lillegraven, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming. “The BLM has proposed numerous traverses by heavy equipment without first surveying the area for fossils, relying only on thumper truck drivers to identify and report important fossil finds that may be so small that they would escape the notice of an untrained person. If the project is allowed to go forward as currently designed, important fossil finds could be lost forever.” 

The court also ordered that settlement negotiations be held to find a solution acceptable to both the conservation groups and the oil and gas operators. 

"If BLM and Veritas are willing to use alternative methods that protect natural values, the project's shortcomings can be addressed in time to allow the project to proceed on schedule," said Mike Chiropolos, the Lands Program Director for Western Resource Advocates. "Protections for natural values are currently inadequate, and feasible solutions are available." 

The project would also impact the western end of the Powder Rim, perhaps the most outstanding and sensitive wildlife habitat in the Great Divide planning area. Not only does the Powder Rim have overlapping crucial winter ranges for elk, deer, and pronghorn, but it also cloaked in a rare juniper woodland that is home to nine rare songbirds. The Powder Rim is also a key wildlife linkage between the rich and diverse foothill habitats of the Atlantic Rim and the trackless expanses of the southwestern Red Desert. The Powder Rim has been proposed by citizens and conservation groups as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern as the Great Divide land-use plan is rewritten. 

“Our goal in these settlement negotiations will be to achieve a project method that will provide strong protections for wildlife, wilderness qualities, and fossil resources,” added Molvar.

The Stay will remain in effect until the case is settled or the IBLA makes a ruling on the merits.

Biodiversity Conservation Alliance was joined on the challenge by the Wyoming Wilderness Association, Colorado Environmental Coalition, Center for Native Ecosystems, and The Wilderness Society.

Photos of impacted Adobe Town and Powder Rim areas and thumper trucks available for publication on request.

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Contact Information Contact
Erik Molvar, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, (307) 742-7978
Dr. Jason Lillegraven, Paleontologist, (307) 742-5275
Liz Howell, Wyoming Wilderness Association, (307) 672-2751
Mike Chiropolos, Lands Program Director, Western Resource Advocates (303) 444-1188 x217