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Protecting the Great Divide
The Western Heritage Alternative
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The Great Divide region includes the eastern half of Wyoming's Red Desert, with its
spectacular desert badlands, high rims, and one of the largest active sand dune fields
Monument Valley, Adobe Town WSA
Photo by
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
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in North America. Stretching across isolated mountain ranges and vast desert basins,
this land provides habitat for a vast array of wildlife and numerous recreational
opportunities. These lands are home to some of the largest remaining herds of pronghorn
antelope, and one of the last strongholds of rare wildlife like the ferruginous hawk
and burrowing owl. It is a land with a colorful past, including the ancestral homelands
of the Shoshone and Ute peoples, the Overland and Cherokee trails traveled by the
pioneers, and the favorite outlaw haunts of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These
open spaces are vitally important to Wyoming's wildlife, our western heritage, and our
quality of life.
Wild Horses near the Powder Rim
Photo by Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
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Our Western Heritage Under Siege
Wyoming's high deserts have now become one of the primary targets of the oil and gas
industry. Bulldozers and drilling rigs are already gobbling up some of our most pristine
wildlands and most sensitive wildlife habitats. And now, the BLM is rewriting its
20-year land use plan for the 3.5 million acres of public land in the Great Divide
region. The new plan should balance energy development compatibly with recreation,
water quality, and wildlife. But it could open most of these public lands to
industrialization as gas fields and strip mines.
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