Recommendations made

The Wyoming Public Lands Initiative (WPLI) Advisory Committee made the following recommendations for the four Carbon County Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in an Aug. 20 document. The comment period for most of these areas closed Sept. 9 but there will be a single topic meeting to discuss the Wild and Scenic status for the Encampment River from the Colorado State line downstream to the Encampment River trailhead at the Bureau Land Management BLM campground. This meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Oct. 15 at the Harshman Building of the Carbon County Higher Education facility at 1650 Harshman St. in Rawlins.

The recommendations were as follows:

Prospect Mountain WSA

For the Prospect Mountain WSA and the North Platte/Black Cat Special Management Area the committee recommended the area become Wilderness within the existing WSA boundary.

The management practices recommended for the area were:

• Manage area within existing WSA according to the Wilderness Act

• Provide 100 ft. buffer from the center line of Prospect Road for maintenance

• Grazing shall continue according to Congressional Grazing Guidelines as set forth in BLM Manual 6340 – Management of BLM Wilderness, which states that “Where grazing of livestock has been authorized by a grazing permit or grazing lease for land within a wilderness, and the use was established before Congress established the wilderness area, under Section 4(d)(4)(2) of the [Wilderness} Act it “shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary by the [administering agency].”

• Fire management and fuel treatment will be conducted as set forth in BLM Manual 6340

• Management of BLM Wilderness.

For the The North Platte/Black Cat Special Management Area the recommendations were less stringent than making the area a pure Wilderness area and recommended the following practices:

• Permit motorized vehicles only for administrative purposes and to respond to an emergency, or to develop/maintain grazing infrastructure

• Prohibit construction of permanent or temporary roads except to respond to an emergency (fires).

• Temporary roads must be reclaimed to Wyoming BLM policy

• Continue existing grazing in accordance with applicable law following the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), the Public Rangelands Act of 1978, Taylor Grazing Act of 1934

• Prohibit commercial timber harvest

• Prohibit oil and gas, geothermal, coal, and other mineral leasing and new locatable mineral entry under the 1872 Mining Law as amended. Honor all existing valid mining claims

• Maintain existing fire management

• Prohibit mountain bikes

Encampment River WSA

For the Encampment River Canyon WSA 3.88 acres covering the Odd Fellows Lodge was recommended to be to excluded from the committee’s decision to make the Encampment River Canyon a Wilderness Area and to designate the Encampment River corridor as Wild and Scenic from the Colorado state line to the Odd Fellows Camp.

The management practices recommended for the area were:

• Manage area within existing WSA according to the Wilderness Act

• Grazing shall continue according to Congressional Grazing Guidelines as set forth in BLM Manual 6340 – Management of BLM Wilderness, which states that “Where grazing of livestock has been authorized by a grazing permit or grazing lease for land within a wilderness, and the use was established before Congress established the wilderness area, under Section 4(d)(4)(2) of the [Wilderness} Act it shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary by the [administering agency].”

• Fire management and fuel treatment will be conducted as set forth in BLM Manual 6340

• Management of BLM Wilderness. In addition, there will be established a standing wildfire management plan that provides a quick response should any structures or property, including those at the Odd Fellows Camp, adjacent ranches, or the towns of Encampment and Riverside be threatened by wildfire

• The Encampment River corridor from the Colorado State line north to the Odd Fellows Camp shall be managed according to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 as set forth in BLM Manual 6400 – Wild and Scenic Rivers – Policy and Program Direction for Identification, Evaluation, Planning, and Management.

Bennett Mountains WSA

The recommendations for the Bennett Mountains WSA was to make the Bennett Mountains WSA into a Special Management Area.

The management procedures recommended were:

• Permit motorized and mechanized vehicles only on roads and trails designated for motorized and mechanized vehicles, except as needed for administrative purposes and to respond to an emergency, or to develop/maintain grazing infrastructure

• Prohibit construction of permanent or temporary roads except in response to an emergency (fires). Temporary roads must be reclaimed to Wyoming BLM policy

• Continue existing grazing in accordance with applicable law following the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), the Public Rangelands Act of 1978, Taylor Grazing Act of 1934

• Prohibit commercial timber harvest

• Prohibit oil and gas, geothermal, coal, and other mineral leasing and new locatable mineral entry under the 1872 Mining Law as amended. Honor all existing valid mining claims

• Maintain existing fire management

Ferris Mountains WSA

The Ferris Mountains WSA was recommended to remain designated as a Wilderness Study Area.

Final Recommendations

After the Oct. 15 meeting, the final recommendations will be submitted to the Wyoming County Commissioners Association for final review. Those final recommendations will then continue to Wyoming U.S. Senator John Barrasso to be crafted into legislation to be sent to Congress as a bill to be voted into law.