NEWS RELEASE

Contact Information

November 4, 2009

BLM withdraws Adobe Town parcels from December
oil and gas auction

 

CHEYENNE – The Bureau of Land Management today announced removal of 15 oil and gas leases in the potential wilderness of Adobe Town and the Kinney Rim from being offered at a December lease sale. The lease parcels total 14,842 acres, concentrated in the southern portion of Adobe Town, the largest and most spectacular potential wilderness on Wyoming’s BLM lands.

Conservation groups including Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, The Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Wyoming Outdoor Council, Wyoming Wilderness Association, and Center for Native Ecosystems had filed a formal protest of the parcels on Monday, saying development in Adobe Town would be at odds with local government and state plans in addition to the wild character of the land.  

“It’s breath of fresh air the Bureau of Land Management has decided to draw a line in the sand and not lease away one of our most cherished places,” said Nada Culver, Senior Counsel at The Wilderness Society.  “This is proof when people from all walks of life stick up for a special spot, we can move mountains and ensure new generations Americans will always have a place to hunt, camp and hike.”

 “Wyoming sportsmen and sportsmen throughout the nation will be happy to know that prime wildlife habitat in Adobe Town will be unspoiled and available to them,” added Mike Guy, a Wyoming sportsman who hunts in the Red Desert.

For years Adobe town had mobilized sportsmen, labor unions, faith groups, local and state governments, and conservation groups who believe the area is too special to drill. Over 89,000 people called for Adobe Town to be put off-limits to oil and gas development in the revision of the Great Divide land-use plan. Recognizing the fragile nature of this landscape and its important fossil resources, wildlife habitats, and geological features, the State of Wyoming designated Adobe Town as Very Rare or Uncommon in 2007. This was followed in 2008 by a Sweetwater County Commission resolution recommending the withdrawal for the southern two-thirds of Adobe Town from oil and gas leasing.

The final BLM land-use plan issued in the waning days of the last administration allowed leasing of  98.4 percent of the field office, including every acre of Adobe Town that was legally available.

“Support for Adobe Town protection came from every quarter of Wyoming, but instead of giving this treasured landscape a reprieve, it was thrown open to drilling,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “This lease deferral is the first sign that the BLM has started to listen, and could mark the dawn of a new day when oil and gas development proceeds cautiously, and crown jewel landscapes like Adobe Town get the protection they deserve. The BLM deserves credit for making a sound decision.”

The spiritual values of Adobe Town were brought to the forefront at a Red Desert Summit co-sponsored by the Wyoming Association of Churches and the Northern Arapahoe Preservation Society in Rock Springs last month.

“Adobe Town and much of the Red Desert today has substantial religious significance to the first indigenous people of this continent,” remarked Yufna Soldier Wolf of the Northern Arapahoe Preservation Society. “The area is a place of reverence and solitude with medicinal plants that give us real spiritual ties to these locations. These places need preservation because for far too long they have been overlooked and desecrated. The spiritual perspective is passed over many times for money, and it is time to start thinking about our priorities in life and what is meaningful and valuable; let's honor this spiritual perspective which is so vital to our culture."  

Adobe Town is the driest place in Wyoming, receiving 5 inches or less of annual rainfall and snow, and the arid environment makes the area extremely fragile.

“Clearly these lands should never have been considered for oil and gas leases,” said Sharon Buccino, director of the Land and Wildlife Program at Natural Resources Defense Council. “BLM is doing the right thing with this move since drilling would utterly destroy the fragile qualities of this unique landscape. Now the real work at BLM needs to start so that we can put a clear national policy in place to protect our last wilderness lands from the drilling bit.”

"Almost half of Wyoming's public lands are already leased for oil and gas, and it makes sense to set aside iconic places like Adobe Town, to preserve what is truly unique about Wyoming," concluded Bruce Pendery of the Wyoming Outdoor Council.

Lease parcels in sage grouse Core Areas that were also under protest have not been deferred, and apparently will be offered for sale with standard timing stipulations that have been heavily criticized by conservation groups, independent researchers, and state game and fish officials.