Deserts, Canyons & High Plains

How to Participate

There are over 18 million acres of public lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Wyoming today. These landscapes are typically at lower elevations than many National Forest lands in the state and as a result, are characterized by their desert ecosystems. These badlands, dune fields, rock outcrops, sagebrush communities, alkali flats and other special environments make up the majority of BLM land. Unfortunately, the protection of primitive, wild places on these lands and the conservation of sensitive species has not been a top-tier priority of the BLM in Wyoming. BLM administered public lands have been managed largely in order to accommodate livestock, promote motorized recreation access and to maximize oil, gas, coal, and other mineral development. As a result, thousands of miles of roads and pipeline criss-cross these unique landscapes. Fortunately, a small percentage of Wyoming BLM lands remain undeveloped, at least for now.

These lands are much of what remains of our heritage in Wyoming and the American West. These majestic landscapes convey a sense of the wide open and untrammeled country that explorers John Colter and Robert Stuart first laid eyes upon. These special places link us to the landscape that existed long before workers laid the first tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad. These lands are remnants of much of the same soil, water and wildlife that characterized the territory centuries prior to Frederick Jackson Turner’s 1893 proclamation of a closed American frontier. And they are all breathtakingly beautiful in their natural simplicity, open skies and vast, complete expanses.

There are many ongoing threats to the special values on our majestic BLM lands. Countless new oil and gas wells are planned on BLM lands in the next decade alone. There are new coal mining proposals and countless coal-bed methane wells in planning. These activities could eliminate much of the remaining BLM wildlands in Wyoming in the coming years.

¹A few impressive facts about Wyoming energy production:

•The Powder River Basin, most of which lies in northeastern Wyoming, is the largest coal-producing region in the Nation and one of the largest in the world, accounting for approximately 40 percent of all coal mined in the United States.

•More than 30 States receive coal from Wyoming, and several Midwestern and Southern States are highly or entirely dependent on Wyoming’s coal supply.

•Wyoming is one of the top natural gas-producing States in the Nation.

•Wyoming produces a substantial amount of wind-generated electricity and the Southern Wyoming Corridor is one of the most favorable locations for wind power development in the Nation.

¹ US Energy Information Administration (2009), http://205.254.135.24/state/state-energy-profiles.cfm?sid=WY

Wyoming can achieve a balance. We can maintain our position as one of the top energy producing states, maintain our high GDP, low unemployment AND protect the landscapes of our heritage for future generations of Wyomingites, Americans and Global Citizens.

To address this challenge of protecting our Wild Wyoming BLM landscapes, the Wyoming Wilderness Association is taking special care in order to give you the tools and resources necessary to have a say in how these places are managed for the future.  When a proposed project on BLM lands threatens wild places, we are here to work with you -- by writing and submitting comments, organizing educational presentations, conducting fun field outings, meeting directly with agency officials and other stakeholder groups and by organizing you to express your desire to protect the values of these special pieces of Wyoming’s heritage.

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