Public Lands: 80% of the Upper Green River Valley

Bureau of Land Management’s Resource Management Plan

Six years after announcing a new management plan for BLM lands in the Upper Green River Valley, the BLM approved its Pinedale Resource Management Plan (RMP) revision.  In this plan, over 453,000 acres of key wildlife habitats were specially-designated as off-limits to future oil and gas leasing and development.  As existing oil and gas leases expire in Unavailable Areas, they will not be re-offered for lease.

• Click here for a map of places that are now unavailable for oil and gas leasing

Upper Green River Alliance staff worked on the RMP every step of the way, with creation of the Responsible Energy Development citizens’ alternative, and an innovative, GIS map series illustrating the most important mule deer, sage-grouse, pronghorn, moose and elk habitats where crucial winter ranges and sage-grouse leks intersect: rangelands where natural gas development can have severe, long-lasting impacts.

Our maps helped to encourage creation of four new Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), adding to the existing Rock Creek and Beaver Creek ACECs:

1. Wind River Front Management Area (201,240 acres)
2. Trapper’s Point ACEC (9,540 acres)
3. New Fork Potholes ACEC (1,820 acres)
4. Ross Butte Management Area (35,670 acres)

The RMP also created four new Wild and Scenic River designations in the valley:

1. East Fork River unit: (1,130 acres);
2. Scab Creek and Silver Creek units (1,350 acres/860 acres respectively);
3. Green River unit (7,100 acres)

The UGRA recognizes that this is an exceptional Resource Management Plan. However, we have remaining concerns about multiple-use management, and will continue to monitor implementation of the RMP to encourage more strident requirements for natural gas operating standards on BLM lands.

We are concerned that exceptions will be considered to allow year-round drilling and development on new and existing leases in Intensively Developed Fields (170,670 acres). BLM will also allow public lands in Traditional Leasing Areas to be converted to Intensively Developed Oil and Gas Fields, as determined by natural gas well density.