Forest Plan revision

The Bridger-Teton National Forest is in the multi-year process of revising its Forest Plan. This document will spell out where and how energy development will occur in the Wyoming Range and other parts of the national forest for the next 15 years. It is important for citizens to engage their representatives in county commissions and the state Legislature, as well as Forest Service officials. The revised plan could safeguard the Wyoming Range for many years or usher in a destructive era of resource extraction. Also at stake is a 2003 moratorium on new leasing in 376,000 acres around Union Pass and the Gros Ventre Range, national forest areas to the northeast of the Wyoming Range.

Multiple use does not mean oil and gas on every acre. The federal government should focus drilling in the sage flat areas they have already leased before pressuring Wyoming into drilling our mountain preserves.     —Gov. Dave Freudenthal, June 1, 2006 letter to the BLM

Citizen participation can help ensure that this 3.4 million-acre national forest will be managed for the greatest good. Help keep the Wyoming Range a place where every day Wyomingites and their visitors can hunt, hike, camp and fish away from the crowds, and ranchers can run cattle on the open range as they have done for more than a century.


Public participation has been limited...so far
The Bridger-Teton has assembled a group of “government cooperators” to advise them in developing the revised forest plan. This group of state and federal agency staff, county commissioners and conservation district representatives has had a special seat at the table with the Forest Service to direct the future of the forest. These government representatives have not recognized the local, grassroots groundswell of opposition to drilling in the Wyoming Range. The first chapter of the draft plan identifies as a desired condition: “Energy resources are available to contribute to economic sustainability.”

Because these government cooperator meetings have not been well publicized, and the Forest Service has held no public meetings since December 2005, the public has been left behind. The Forest Service needs to make this process more open and less cumbersome. Right now, this proposed plan does not reflect the public’s concerns about drilling in the Wyoming Range.

What can you do?

  • Because your county commission and conservation district has a special seat at the table in developing this plan, talk with your local representatives.
  • Request a special meeting with the Forest planning team—especially if you and others represent a “stakeholder group.”
  • Tell the Forest Service that it needs to involve the public in meaningful ways that solicit pertinent feedback on special places and appropriate uses of forest lands.
  • Request to be informed of all opportunities for public comment and meetings.
    • Join Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range so we can alert you to important times to become involved in this process.

Contact Information on the Bridger-Teton Forest Plan Revision

Rick Fox, forest planner, PO Box 1888, Jackson, WY 83001 phone: 307-739-5563 or email Rick Fox.
Or visit the Bridger-Teton’s forest plan web page.