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Sierra Club and Allies Preserve Critical Lynx Habitat in Wyoming
Case Updates:
December 31, 2012
In the final hours of 2012, Sierra Club and allies succeeded in preserving 58,000 acres of critical habitat for the Canada lynx. The area is located in the Wyoming Range, just south of Jackson Hole in the Western Wyoming.
In recent years, Sierra Club has actively opposed the plans of Plains Exploration and Production (PXP) to develop 136 oil and gas wells in this remote area. Faced with intense opposition by the Club, other environmental groups, and the public, the Bridger-Teton National Forest decided in 2012 (2011?) to delay a final decision on the development until it could prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
That delay allowed the Trust for Public Land to negotiate an $8.75 buyout of PXP’s leases. The Trust and other groups worked for two months to secure the necessary funding before a December 31, 2012 deadline, and succeeded at the eleventh hour. The land has already begun to be permanently retired under the 2009 Wyoming Range Legacy Act, which means it can never be re-sold or leased. This is a victory for the land, the lynx that inhabit it, and the public who use the Wyoming Range.
Details and Documents:
News Articles:Groups raise enough money to buy our Wyoming Range leases January 2, 2013 by Adam Voge,
Star-Tribune
More Info:
See other "Promoting Resilient Habitats" cases.