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An oil and gas lease sale proposed by the Bureau of Land Management for next June would overlap with Wyoming's three officially-designated wildlife migration corridors and a fourth known but currently undesignated corridor, according to reporting by WyoFile. The proposed lease sale would offer more than 250,000 acres in Wyoming, including 88,000 acres that overlap with wildlife migration corridors designated under the state's migration policy established in 2020 by Governor Mark Gordon.
According to an analysis by the Wyoming Outdoor Council, nearly 39,000 acres proposed for lease in the upcoming sale would overlap with migration corridors that in theory are protected by Wyoming's migration policy. An additional 49,000 acres are proposed for lease within a corridor that was "identified" but ultimately not designated under Wyoming's process.
"While there are places that are appropriate for oil and gas development, potentially fracturing our iconic big game migration corridors is an affront to all those who value Wyoming’s wildlife," said Alec Underwood, conservation director at the Wyoming Outdoor Council. Julia Stuble, Wyoming state director at The Wilderness Society, agreed: "We simply can’t lease and allow development in our big game migration corridors if we want our kids and grandkids to have the same hunting and wildlife viewing opportunities that we’ve enjoyed."
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We all love our parks and want to see them, you know, stay open and not get sold or leased out to oil and gas.”
