The Wyoming Range

Timeline

February 2010 – The Bridger-Teton National Forest releases its “Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement -- Oil and Gas Leasing in the Wyoming Range.” The preferred alternative in the DSEIS is No Action, indicating the Forest’s intent to cancel all of the remaining contested leases in the original 44,700 acres.

August 2009 – The Bureau of Land Management announces that it is cancelling 23 oil and gas lease parcels totaling 23,757 acres in the Wyoming Range. This is roughly half of the 44,700 acres of contested leases that originally launched the Wyoming Range campaign.

March 30, 2009 - President Obama signs the Wyoming Range Legacy Act into law as a subtitle of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

March 25, 2009 - The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 passes Congress.

October 2007 - U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), who has been recently appointed to replace the late Senator Craig Thomas, introduces the Wyoming Range Legacy Act in the U.S. Senate, and U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) co-sponsors.

April 2007 - Statewide support continues to build, with the Wyoming Travel and Tourism Board, the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the Wyoming AFL-CIO, and several others openly endorsing protection.

Photo courtesy of Trout Unlimited

January 2007 - Governor Dave Freudenthal (D) and former State Senate President Grant Larson (R) co-host the Wyoming Range reception at the state capitol. Numerous state legislators sign on to the campaign. NOLS and TU recruit dozens of businesses to support the initiative.

August 2006 - Trout Unlimited, in conjunction with a private consulting firm, founds the Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range and signs up dozens of hunting and fishing organizations. The new network launches with a media tour in January and February of 2007.

July 2006 - The Interior Board of Lands Appeals issues a decision on 44,700 acres of controversial leases, and grants a stay, ordering the BLM and NFS to do further environmental analyses before making a final decision on oil and gas leasing.

April 2006 - As oil and gas leasing proceeds, conservation groups and the recently founded Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range engage in public outreach, media outreach, and the lobbying of elected officials. The leases are protested and then appealed by several groups of advocates. One group consists of The Wyoming Outdoor Council, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The Wilderness Society, and Wyoming Wildlife Federation. The second consists of Trout Unlimited, NOLS, Greys River Trophies, and nine additional outfitters. Other groups filed separate protests as well.

March 2006 - Throughout the spring, Trout Unlimited and NOLS cosponsor open houses across Western Wyoming.

December 2005 - Oil and gas leasing of 44,700 controversial acres begins.

January 2005 - A long outreach campaign ensues, consisting of numerous public meetings, media outreach, and grassroots organizing efforts. Trout Unlimited and NOLS cosponsor open houses across Western Wyoming. Craig Thomas visits Pinedale and Lander, and Wyoming's Governor Dave Freudenthal announces his support to protect the Wyoming Range.

September 2004 - The Forest Service revises the proposed acreage to be leased, reducing it from the original 175,000 acres to 44,700 acres. These remaining acres, however, are in the heart of several outfitters’ operating areas, including NOLS.

August 2004 - Concerned conservation and sportsmen groups coordinate a public open house in Jackson, designed to provide a forum for citizens to register their concerns with the National Forest Service.

July 2004 - Groups meet in Pinedale to discuss the pending lease sale of 175,000 acres in the Wyoming Range. Attending this meeting were NOLS, The Wilderness Society, the Greater Yellowstone Coalitio, the Wyoming Outdoor Council, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, and others.