Wyoming, Wyoming Range

The Wyoming Range is one of Wyoming’s lesser-known gems. In the southern part of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, this 150-mile range is home to prized herds of big game, native cutthroat trout populations and threatened species like Canada lynx. It is a place where locals find solitude in huge tracts of forest backcountry when nearby wilderness areas and national parks are crowded with out-of-state visitors. It’s also a place that supports traditional, sustainable activities such as outfitting, guiding, ranching, and recreation. These values are at risk, however, because the Wyoming Range is the area on the Bridger-Teton National Forest that energy companies have targeted for new oil and gas development.

On March 30th 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Omnibus Public Lands Act of 2009, which protected many wild landscapes including a large part of the Wyoming Range, outlined in the Wyoming Range Legacy Act.  In August 2009 an additional 24,000 acres were withdrawn from leasing by the BLM and in January 2011 an announcement from the Forest Service that it will not allow development on 44,720 acres of contested oil and gas leases.

Still at risk is a project with Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP) to drill 136 natural gas wells in the Upper Hoback Basin, south of Jackson. This is a pristine area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest that is currently designated roadless; it falls within congressional boundaries of the Wyoming Range Legacy Act. It is designated a Crucial Habitat Priority Area and Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) Priority Area by WY Game and Fish Department and is the headwaters of congressionally designated Wild and Scenic River – the Hoback.

It also contains important summer range, birthing areas and migration corridor for mule deer, elk, pronghorn and moose; and over 20 square miles of crucial moose winter range. It is the habitat hub for three mule deer herds – Wind River, Wyoming Range and the significantly impacted (60% decline in 10 years) “Mesa” herd from the Pinedale Anticline.

EcoFlight works with Citizens for the Wyoming Range, as well as the Wilderness Society,  and the Wyoming Outdoor Council to help protect the Wyoming Range from future oil and gas development.