Vote releases Honeycombs from wilderness protection

WORLAND — Washakie County’s Wyoming Public Lands Initiative (WPLI) Advisory Committee met Wednesday at the Washakie County Extension Office, in a final move to end a year-long consensus process, and send to the commissioners three recommendations to determine best-use for county wilderness study areas (WSA).

Although in May the group agreed on wording to move forward with recommendations, on Wednesday, representatives of the agriculture, energy and conservation district changed their votes, effectively stripping one area of previously-agreed upon wilderness protections, prompting one member of the group to leave the meeting before a final vote.

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).

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

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.

The original proposals, which were submitted for public comment last month, included for the Honeycombs WSA, located 16 miles southeast of Worland and encompassing 21,000 acres of lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, 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.

On Wednesday, Rice, Bower and Fenton changed their vote to a hard block, forcing the Honeycombs to be soft released to BLM regulations, which prompted Smith to abruptly leave the meeting.

Grimes, speaking for conservation constituents, remarked that he would stick with the committee’s decisions, but strongly disagreed with last minute changes to recommendations the group had worked toward for a year and a half.

Rice, representing agriculture and grazing interests, stated that Grimes hadn’t worked hard enough for wilderness protections, and said “I’m here to represent a use [grazing] and not be in solidarity with a group. Livelihoods are based on this, so I represent them. [Grazing] permits have been in families for generations so that’s why I do what I do.”

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.

On Wednesday, the group agreed with the proposal as written, although Bower, representing energy interests, and Rice, strongly disagreed.

The Cedar Mountain WSA, shared with Hot Spring County, would be re-designated as a Special Management Area (SMA), a designation that defines and 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.

The WPLI group moved forward with the recommendation on Wednesday, again with disagreement from the energy and ag representatives.

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

During the public comment period, those organizations, along with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation and the Wyoming State Grazing Board, all expressed disagreement with the WPLI recommendations, and threatened to lobby against the changes at the congressional level, which caused some concern from the WPLI group.

Commissioner Aaron Anderson, who has lead the group for almost two years, noted that the recommendations have the same amount of support from either the agriculture or conservation sides, and “This seems to be getting harder than easier.”

Grimes noted that “these groups can argue all they want, but they’re not part of the community” and advised against making changes based on what might or might not happen in Congress.

Once final comments have been collected from the dissenting votes in the group, Anderson will present the proposals to the county commission for review.

“The commission has been aware of these proceedings the whole time,” said Anderson. “I don’t see this dragging out [at the commission level] for an extended amount of time before we make our decision.”