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Mule Deer Migration Route at Risk in Wyoming Gas Field
9/4/08
Coal-bed methane development in mule deer migration corridor ignores current science, state recommendations, federal law
WASHINGTON - Continued coal-bed methane development in Wyoming's Atlantic Rim threatens important migration routes for one of the state's largest mule deer herds and ignores recommendations by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department regarding the animals' ability to access crucial winter range, a sportsmen's group announced today. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership asserts that the BLM is allowing development of the Atlantic Rim natural gas project area to the detriment of mule deer and in conflict with best available information.
The proposal of the Doty Mountain C POD contains numerous gas wells that would be drilled within a narrow mule deer migration corridor. Their location conflicts with the original development plan for the Atlantic Rim project, which requires maintenance of "functional migration routes through or around development areas." The disruptive presence of the wells would be compounded by construction of ancillary access roads, utility corridors and related facilities. In comments made during preparation of the Atlantic Rim project, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department recommended that the BLM protect this specific corridor from the negative impacts of energy development.
In August 2007, the TRCP filed suit against the Department of the Interior over its approval of energy development on public lands in the Atlantic Rim, located in south-central Wyoming. The pending litigation is driven in part by concerns that the project's vague adaptive management process could not be implemented effectively. The model used to develop the project unequivocally states that impacts to wildlife and hunting would be substantial and potentially devastate both the region's game and the hunting opportunities enjoyed by generations of public lands users.
"This type of development in the Atlantic Rim is exactly why our concerns were so great, and it partly compelled the TRCP to file its lawsuit against Interior," said Tom Franklin, senior vice president of the TRCP. "Unrestricted development in mule deer migration corridors and crucial winter ranges could significantly decrease deer populations in the area. This action only crystallizes our doubts regarding the BLM's ability to manage the area for multiple uses, including wildlife and hunting, and further strengthens our position that the BLM is managing for a single use - energy development."
"Once again, the BLM is breaking its promise to American sportsmen by refusing to use the best available information to manage wildlife during development of the Atlantic Rim," said TRCP Energy Initiative Manager Steve Belinda. "Approval to continue development within the migration route would pointedly contradict the promises made during the approval of the project and does not conform to the adaptive management process the BLM vowed to follow in managing wildlife."
Long-term displacement of wildlife such as mule deer from preferred habitat and migration routes can severely affect population numbers and overall species health. Led by Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, the Western Governors Association recently adopted recommendations on its wildlife corridors resolution passed last year. The report on these recommendations identifies the importance of migration corridors in sustaining "significant, reliable wildlife populations." Implementation of the recommendations thereby would sustain the substantial economic benefits of recreational hunting in the western United States.
"The information about mule deer in these areas is an invaluable resource regarding clearly defined winter ranges and migration routes," continued Belinda, a former federal biologist. "Failure by the BLM to utilize this information and the recommendations from both the Western Governors Association and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is unacceptable. We have an opportunity to 'do it right' by utilizing this information to maintain functioning habitats and healthy fish and wildlife populations during energy development. This is not the way to do it right."
The BLM notified the TRCP and other interested parties of the Doty Mountain proposal only days before the BLM was to act on it. The TRCP immediately responded by formally objecting to the proposal, explaining it was consistent neither with the Atlantic Rim project plan nor with prior environmental analyses that assumed mitigation measures would be employed to protect the migration corridor. Ongoing development has constricted the migration corridor, which now is in danger of permanent severance. The BLM is expected to act on the proposal shortly.
Franklin hopes the BLM will reconsider its approach at the administrative level. "By filing these comments, the TRCP once again is trying to operate within the BLM's internal review structure," he stated. "We want to avoid another legal battle, but this corridor is far too important to the Atlantic Rim's mule deer population to accommodate further development. The TRCP will continue to work to ensure these animals' safe passage."
"Inexplicably, this proposal never acknowledges recent recommendations on the importance of migratory corridors to wildlife," said TRCP Field Representative Dwayne Meadows, who grew up hunting in the Atlantic Rim area. "Neither does it reference the recently completed three years of research on the Atlantic Rim's own mule deer populations - information that was available to the BLM this spring.
"The TRCP is working hard to ensure that the development of energy resources on Western public lands is balanced with the needs of fish and wildlife resources," concluded Meadows, "but we're concerned about the rapid pace of development and ignorance of sound principles of multiple-use management, as exemplified in projects such as the Atlantic Rim. We are dumbfounded that the BLM is failing to use information from studies it helped fund. Actions like these prevent the BLM from managing these resources as required by federal law and to the benefit of the American public."
The TRCP believes that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife.
Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.
Media Contact:
Dwayne Meadows, 307-760-6802, dmeadows@trcp.org
9/4/08
Coal-bed methane development in mule deer migration corridor ignores current science, state recommendations, federal law
WASHINGTON - Continued coal-bed methane development in Wyoming's Atlantic Rim threatens important migration routes for one of the state's largest mule deer herds and ignores recommendations by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department regarding the animals' ability to access crucial winter range, a sportsmen's group announced today. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership asserts that the BLM is allowing development of the Atlantic Rim natural gas project area to the detriment of mule deer and in conflict with best available information.
The proposal of the Doty Mountain C POD contains numerous gas wells that would be drilled within a narrow mule deer migration corridor. Their location conflicts with the original development plan for the Atlantic Rim project, which requires maintenance of "functional migration routes through or around development areas." The disruptive presence of the wells would be compounded by construction of ancillary access roads, utility corridors and related facilities. In comments made during preparation of the Atlantic Rim project, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department recommended that the BLM protect this specific corridor from the negative impacts of energy development.
In August 2007, the TRCP filed suit against the Department of the Interior over its approval of energy development on public lands in the Atlantic Rim, located in south-central Wyoming. The pending litigation is driven in part by concerns that the project's vague adaptive management process could not be implemented effectively. The model used to develop the project unequivocally states that impacts to wildlife and hunting would be substantial and potentially devastate both the region's game and the hunting opportunities enjoyed by generations of public lands users.
"This type of development in the Atlantic Rim is exactly why our concerns were so great, and it partly compelled the TRCP to file its lawsuit against Interior," said Tom Franklin, senior vice president of the TRCP. "Unrestricted development in mule deer migration corridors and crucial winter ranges could significantly decrease deer populations in the area. This action only crystallizes our doubts regarding the BLM's ability to manage the area for multiple uses, including wildlife and hunting, and further strengthens our position that the BLM is managing for a single use - energy development."
"Once again, the BLM is breaking its promise to American sportsmen by refusing to use the best available information to manage wildlife during development of the Atlantic Rim," said TRCP Energy Initiative Manager Steve Belinda. "Approval to continue development within the migration route would pointedly contradict the promises made during the approval of the project and does not conform to the adaptive management process the BLM vowed to follow in managing wildlife."
Long-term displacement of wildlife such as mule deer from preferred habitat and migration routes can severely affect population numbers and overall species health. Led by Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, the Western Governors Association recently adopted recommendations on its wildlife corridors resolution passed last year. The report on these recommendations identifies the importance of migration corridors in sustaining "significant, reliable wildlife populations." Implementation of the recommendations thereby would sustain the substantial economic benefits of recreational hunting in the western United States.
"The information about mule deer in these areas is an invaluable resource regarding clearly defined winter ranges and migration routes," continued Belinda, a former federal biologist. "Failure by the BLM to utilize this information and the recommendations from both the Western Governors Association and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is unacceptable. We have an opportunity to 'do it right' by utilizing this information to maintain functioning habitats and healthy fish and wildlife populations during energy development. This is not the way to do it right."
The BLM notified the TRCP and other interested parties of the Doty Mountain proposal only days before the BLM was to act on it. The TRCP immediately responded by formally objecting to the proposal, explaining it was consistent neither with the Atlantic Rim project plan nor with prior environmental analyses that assumed mitigation measures would be employed to protect the migration corridor. Ongoing development has constricted the migration corridor, which now is in danger of permanent severance. The BLM is expected to act on the proposal shortly.
Franklin hopes the BLM will reconsider its approach at the administrative level. "By filing these comments, the TRCP once again is trying to operate within the BLM's internal review structure," he stated. "We want to avoid another legal battle, but this corridor is far too important to the Atlantic Rim's mule deer population to accommodate further development. The TRCP will continue to work to ensure these animals' safe passage."
"Inexplicably, this proposal never acknowledges recent recommendations on the importance of migratory corridors to wildlife," said TRCP Field Representative Dwayne Meadows, who grew up hunting in the Atlantic Rim area. "Neither does it reference the recently completed three years of research on the Atlantic Rim's own mule deer populations - information that was available to the BLM this spring.
"The TRCP is working hard to ensure that the development of energy resources on Western public lands is balanced with the needs of fish and wildlife resources," concluded Meadows, "but we're concerned about the rapid pace of development and ignorance of sound principles of multiple-use management, as exemplified in projects such as the Atlantic Rim. We are dumbfounded that the BLM is failing to use information from studies it helped fund. Actions like these prevent the BLM from managing these resources as required by federal law and to the benefit of the American public."
The TRCP believes that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife.
Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.
Media Contact:
Dwayne Meadows, 307-760-6802, dmeadows@trcp.org
