Wilderness study group ready for public comment

WORLAND — Washakie County’s Wyoming Public Lands Initiative (WPLI) Advisory Committee met Tuesday at the Washakie County Fairgrounds to finalize a year-long consensus process, effectively agreeing on three recommendations to determine best-use for county wilderness study areas (WSA).

After Tuesday’s meeting, which included a unanimous decision to reject a recent Wilderness Society-sponsored proposal, members of the working group generally agreed to present the public their recommendations for the county’s WSAs.

A public comment period will follow, starting next week, and will include public hearings in Worland, Ten Sleep and Thermopolis. Afterward, the group will consider public comments before submitting final recommendations to the county commission for approval.

The goal of the WPLI group was to reach a consensus as to the use of the WSAs in the county, through public input. The primary areas of concentration in Washakie County include the Honeycombs (located between Ten Sleep and Worland), Cedar Mountain (south of Winchester and shared with Hot Springs County) and Bobcat Draw (in the northwest corner of the county, shared with Big Horn County).

Once committee recommendations have been formalized and approved by the county commission, the final recommendations of the WPLI will be sent to a federal delegation for introduction in the U.S. House and Senate in 2018.

Under the WPLI, all 23 Wyoming counties have been invited to participate in the initiative, and each Board of County Commissioners will decide if their county will join the effort. Each county will create a County Advisory Team, made up of members from agriculture, conservation, energy, recreation districts and county commissioners to review and designate the lands in their area.

The Washakie County Advisory Committee is comprised of representatives of non-motorized recreation, motorized recreation, agriculture and ranching, sportsmen, energy interests, conservation and environmental concerns, the local conservation district and the general public.

Members include Dan Rice, Shawn Christenson, Justin Smith, Richard Kroger, Dru Bower, Dwight Maryland, Karen Fenton, Ron Harvey, Aaron Anderson, Stan Wostenberg, Kaylea Matlock and C.J. Grimes.

Representatives of the Wilderness Society, The Yellowstone Coalition, Trout Unlimited and the Wyoming Outdoors Council have provided public input and also observed the meetings.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Grimes, the conservation representative for the county, expressed chagrin that the Wilderness Society had “gone around his back” and submitted a two-page proposal to WPLI facilitator and Washakie County Commissioner Aaron Anderson.

Grimes expressed that he felt he had been thrown “under the bus”, by the move, while Anderson reminded the group that while outside and national groups were observing, “we need to decide what brings the most value to local input” on the issues facing the WSAs.

As a result, when the group voted on whether or not to consider the Wilderness proposal, Grimes voted no, along with the other members.

“We were asked to solve this at a local level, so my vote is really a show of solidarity with the group,” explained Grimes. “I’m sure Mr. [Paul] Spitler [director of Wilderness Campaigns for the Wilderness Society] will have his say in Washington, D.C., but this is my say here.”

THE RECOMMENDATIONS

Before voting to present the recommendations for the WSAs to the public, the group took consensus votes to either release or “soft” release the areas from wilderness protection, without a general consensus on each vote.

For the Honeycombs WSA, located 16 miles southeast of Worland and encompassing 21,000 acres of lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management lands, the group identified 10,000 acres of primarily the “Hoodoo” region, to be protected due to the unique rock formations and landscape, while the remainder of the WSA would be soft-released to a regular Resource Management Plan under legislation.

Highlights of the recommendation include protection of existing grazing and range improvements, limited motorized access and road development, and protection of scenic rock formations and public use.

For the Bobcat Draw WSA, located 25 miles west of Worland and shared by Big Horn County, encompassing 17,150 acres of BLM-administered lands and including a Wild Horse Area, the group recommended a wilderness area of approximately 5,000 acres, subject to management under the Wilderness Act of 1964.

The remainder of Bobcat Draw, with the exception of lands east of the Wild Horse Area, would be released. Inside the wilderness area would be limited to non-motorized and non-mechanical travel, although the rest would be open to travel on existing roads. The wilderness area would also be withdrawn from oil and mineral leasing, while the rest would be open to exploration and directional drilling from outside the area boundary. Grazing would continue, along with development of water resources.

The Washakie County WPLI group was unable to come to an agreement with members from Big Horn County, so the group chose to leave the Big Horn County portion out of their recommendation.

The Cedar Mountain WSA, shared with Hot Spring County, would be re-designated as a Special Management Area (SMA), a designation that defines an area of concern to the BLM and directs them how to manage it. The designation would help protect the natural resources of the area, while allowing for uses not currently permitted in the WSA.

Under the recommendation, the area would be open to motorized and non-motorized travel, on existing roads. Oil and mineral exploration would be under the same as public lands, and livestock grazing would be allowed in accordance with previous grazing and range management acts in effect.

After the next county commission meeting (June 5) the recommendations will be available online for review at the county commission website.

Public meetings will be held June 13 in Worland, and June 20 in Ten Sleep. A date has yet been determined for the meeting in Thermopolis.