The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership recently took an aggressive step forward in holding the federal government accountable for management commitments it made on a southwestern Wyoming energy project by filing a legal brief in a suit against the Department of the Interior. The sportsmen’s group asserts that the Bureau of Land Management has mishandled adaptive management on the Pinedale Anticline natural gas development project. The TRCP initially filed its lawsuit because the BLM formally adopted and then abandoned adaptive management plans intended to protect a host of species.

At issue in the TRCP suit are commitments made by the BLM to sustain the region’s natural resources through an “adaptive environmental management” process in its authorization in 2000 and a supplemental authorization in 2008 for the Pinedale Anticline project area, which encompasses approximately 200,000 acres of the Green River Basin in Sublette County, Wyo. The project authorized development in a region that supports substantial numbers of sage-grouse and contains crucial winter range for one of the state’s largest mule deer populations. The latter has declined by 30 percent in the project area since development began. These species and other game in the region offer some of Wyoming’s best hunting and fishing opportunities; hunting seasons and recreational use have been reduced due to the impacts from development.

“This lawsuit upholds the interests of sportsmen in Wyoming and across the country,” said Dr. Rollin Sparrowe, a former federal biologist and lifelong hunter who lives near the project site. “Development in the Pinedale Anticline has proceeded without checks that the adaptive management process was intended to provide. Big-game and upland bird populations are suffering, and hunting opportunities are declining. The TRCP supports responsible public-lands energy development that is pursued in accordance with federal law and ensures citizens’ continued ability to access our shared lands and natural resources. Our inaction in Pinedale would allow the ongoing mismanagement of Western lands and the elimination of America’s dearly held outdoor traditions."

For the complete story, please go to trcp.org -- Jay Cassell