Wyoming Public Lands bill clears Senate committee

BUFFALO — Federal legislation that would, among other land management directives, release three wilderness study areas in Johnson County from longtime protections, is one step closer to becoming law.

Long championed by Wyoming’s congressional delegation and the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative was introduced in 2015 to finalize the designation of several Wilderness Study Areas throughout the state. The bill passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee by voice vote during a business meeting on Dec. 14.

The bill has been given time in congressional committees on a few occasions since former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney first drafted and introduced it in 2018. 

Legislation was most recently introduced in the Senate in April and referred to the Senate ENR Committee. A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives and referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources in June. 

Bill Novotny, Johnson County Commission chairman and president of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, has been a proponent of the WPLI since the county joined in 2016.

“This is the furthest we’ve gotten,” Novotny said. “I’m very hopeful we’re going to move this through unanimous consent and send this over to the house which should clear and then go to the president’s desk.” 

In the bill, S. 1348, as written, three parcels of Bureau of Land Management administered land in Johnson County, including the Fortification Creek, Gardner Mountain and North Fork WSAs, would be designated as “management areas,” which would release those lands from certain protections and return them to multiple use.

Still, managers would be prohibited from constructing new permanent roads and the areas would generally be closed to motorized vehicles. Temporary roads and motorized vehicles will be allowed for purposes of fire suppression, weed and pest control, habitat management, livestock management, range improvements, forest health and restoration and in an emergency.

In his opening statement at the meeting, Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso, ranking member of the Senate ENR committee, touted the locally run initiative that would resolve management status for thousands of acres of federal public lands across seven counties.

“Until Congress acts, the Bureau treats all of these Wilderness Study Area lands as wilderness; in other words, the land has been closed off to almost every use, and for the people of Wyoming, who rely on access to the land to make a living and for recreation, this is not acceptable,” he told the committee.

Barrasso, the bill’s sponsor, referenced a 1991 BLM report that recommended basically the same land designations that are in the 2023 bill.

The legislation breaks down land designations by county. Overall, it includes the release of 17 wilderness study areas (roughly 100,000 acres) that would be managed for multiple uses, and designation of five wilderness areas totaling a little more than 20,000 acres.

WSAs are lands identified by Congress that have wilderness characteristics and are set aside for further study before they can be designated as wilderness, which is the highest protection for federal public lands. According to the BLM, the agency manages 11.1 million acres of public land as WSAs.

These areas are managed to ensure that until Congress decides to either add or end consideration of a WSA, its suitability for wilderness designation is not impaired.

Barrasso and other proponents of the bill describe the longtime management of these areas as WSAs as a de facto lockup of these lands that remain in a management limbo.

“I want to thank the Wyoming County commissioners for their collaboration since 2015. The bill, which I am proud to sponsor on their behalf, generally follows the recommendations of the 1991 report. [The Wyoming Public Lands Initiative Act] strikes a balance between protecting the places people in Wyoming love, while expanding multiple- use areas that our state and local economies rely on,” Barrasso said during the meeting.

The BLM, in the past, recommended that the Gardner Mountain, North Fork and Fortification Creek WSAs be released from wilderness considerations, according to previous Bulletin reporting. 

Campbell County took the lead on the Fortification Creek WSA, given that the majority of its acreage is located across the border from Johnson County. Its 10-member advisory committee consisted of four Johnson County residents.

While the bill has support from the state’s county governments involved in the initiative, it’s seen opposition from Wyoming-based conservation organizations.

One Sheridan-based organization, the Wyoming Wilderness Association, cited the county-led public lands initiative process that dates back to 2015 and its “exclusive and unbalanced” committees. 

Following last week’s committee meeting, the organization issued a statement calling the legislation “a net loss for Wyoming’s wild lands.” 

“The Wyoming Wilderness Association has repeatedly offered to work with Senator Barrasso’s office on some laudable recommendations in the bill, including what would be Wyoming’s first designated BLM Wilderness areas,” the statement says. “We are disappointed to see the bill move forward without any effort from the Wyoming delegation to secure the necessary support from the local communities or Tribes most directly impacted by the recommendations in this legislation.”

To that, Novotny said, “They were all invited to participate in the process; they chose not to and then chose to throw a fit at the end of the process, and for them to comment on the bill at this point is disingenuous” 

“There are grassroots-driven recommendations,” he said. “I’m very pleased with the product we put together.”

The deadline for the WPLI to pass at this point would be Dec. 31, 2024, at which point the makeup of Congress will change, meaning potentially new majorities and a new administration. 

At that point, the bill would need to be reintroduced in committee and go through the same process it’s been through.

“We’re going to push very hard to get this bill done in the next year and get this issue off the table,” Novotny said.