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Wyoming Lands under attack!

If I were "king" for a day, one of the things at the top of my list would be to make sure there are no more wilderness study areas. Stupid designation.
 
If I were "king" for a day, one of the things at the top of my list would be to make sure there are no more wilderness study areas. Stupid designation.

Curious as to why you feel this way?
 
Curious as to why you feel this way?
What have they been studying for 30 years? Are they still actively studying them? IME, they haven't and they aren't. Note I did not say I wouldn't make them official Wilderness Areas. Either designate them or not. Not of fan of 'de facto' management plans. I suspect many, if not most, I would be in favor of full designation.

One I worked on I would designate as IMO it still contained the wilderness characteristics. The other had much of the characteristics, but the vegetation (which is mostly NOT a designation criteria) was out of whack on a large portion of it. Not designating it would allow more aggressive vegetation management options and fire suppression tactics.
 
Please correct me if I'm wrong here. Aren't those "Study" areas part of the Rare 2 that congress declared to be evaluated to see if they held wilderness characteristics that should make them as wilderness or should be managed by multiple use standards?

The problem I see is the anti wilderness people have sought to stop any conversation dealing with those lands on the premise that no more lands would enter into wilderness designation. Then just go about business as usual and mine, road, ride, etc on those lands. Recent court rulings have stopped those activities and now all those lands are being reclaimed and treated as roadless.

The way I see it, they cut their noses off to spite their faces, and now those (through court order) have to be treated as wilderness until they have that conversation.


I might be confused:confused: here. Usually the case.
 
What have they been studying for 30 years? Are they still actively studying them? IME, they haven't and they aren't. Note I did not say I wouldn't make them official Wilderness Areas. Either designate them or not. Not of fan of 'de facto' management plans. I suspect many, if not most, I would be in favor of full designation.

One I worked on I would designate as IMO it still contained the wilderness characteristics. The other had much of the characteristics, but the vegetation (which is mostly NOT a designation criteria) was out of whack on a large portion of it. Not designating it would allow more aggressive vegetation management options and fire suppression tactics.


Shoots pretty much nailed it. It's a political football. If congress were honest about there motives, they'd let us know that the more you hold back and keep agencies from doing their jobs, the more you politicize and polarize, the easier it is to just get rid of the land, or remove any protective designation.

I'm all for clearing the backlog of WSA's and designating those worthy with real Wilderness designations, or just as good - Backcountry Conservation Area designations like TRCP is proposing. Big W wilderness might not fit, but a BCA (very similar to what was done with the Heritage act and the Conservation Management Area) is a good fit for a lot of these places.

In some instances, releasing the WSA back into the fold of multiple use lands works as well, but it takes a congress that is more interested in actually governing than making Pyrrhic votes on Obamacare to do something about it.

So don't blame the designation, blame congress for their lack of leadership on public lands.
 
I'm not blaming the designation. Just saying the designation is stupid, which it is.
 
If Riverton based Senator Eli Bebout is involved, it's going to be bad for sportspeople and good for Oil & Gas/Ag. I read the article and nowhere are Hunters and Anglers mentioned, we must be the "others" they mentioned at the end. Sure glad he lost the Governors race. Current Governor Mead is no prize however.
 
You're wrong. Anything hanging in limbo for 30+ years should be fixed.

I don't disagree that we need to work on it. But again, it's not the agencies that are holding it up - it's politicians. You can't fault the designation for being held hostage.

Lizard beats Spock!
 
I don't disagree that we need to work on it. But again, it's not the agencies that are holding it up - it's politicians. You can't fault the designation for being held hostage.

Lizard beats Spock!
I realize the agencies aren't the problem, but having to work with "de facto" management is a PIA and not needed. Politicians are almost always the problem. That's why I need to be made King!

I see you caught by reference. Bazinga.
 
1 Pointer,

Thanks for the explanation. I would agree, nothing needs studied for 30 years. I guess I would tend to agree with Ben in that it's incumbent upon folks in Washington DC to either fish or cut bait and not leave something in limbo either.
 
Tucker 44 - thanks for posting this but your title may be a bit dramatic. I think this can be a good opportunity for hunters and anglers in our state to deal with some of the issues already discussed here and possibly address some public access/wildlife management issues for some of these areas. That is if the counties/industry approach this in a reasonable manner.

Here is another article about it: http://www.wyofile.com/counties-move-wilderness-study-areas/
And the Initiative docs just got posted here: http://www.wyo-wcca.org/~wcca/index.php/wpli/

If we want a good outcome, we are going to need more sportsmen to engage on issues like this. I'm planning to work on this for TRCP so give me a shout at ndobric (at) trcp.org if you want to get engaged. But right now we are in need of sportsmen speaking up for the migration policy update that's in front of the WGF Commission (Casper-Star article)
 
Nick, lots of Wyoming guys on here. You should do a post and introduce yourself. :) Glad to see you on Hunt Talk!
 
Generally I'm in favor of wilderness areas. I love being able to stretch my legs and get away from that gawd awful drone of quads and dirt bikes. Peace, quiet and open spaces, I Cherish. In the case of Wyoming, I have a completely different outlook. Wyoming has given themselves the authority to to tell non residents they cannot hunt the wilderness areas within its borders. When this land belongs to every american, and is considered federal land, how can it only be hunted by residents? Yes, I know I can hire an outfitter, but that's not what I enjoy. I say leave these study areas as they are. If they are given designation, it will only lock out scores of people who have used these area for years.
 
cur dog,

Speaking as a resident of Wyoming, I think you have a damn valid point...and frankly, one I hadn't put much thought into in regard to these areas being designated.

Designation will definitely keep some DIY NR from hunting these areas...thank you for putting this out there. I'm sure you know this, but residents can get a free "guide license" to allow 2 NR's to access wilderness. But, to be sure, the wilderness guide law still sucks.

Like Nick, myself and/or other board members of WYBHA, will be involved in this process and this will be brought up.
 
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Buzz,
Thanks for seeing both sides on this. As a father of two young kids, I love the idea of seeing wild places preserved for the future. Its unfortunate that Wyoming still has this stupid rule in place. I think you would get a lot more voices and push for preservation and designation, if it didn't mean a huge loss for the NR DIY hunter. Unfortunately, this will mainly benefit the Residents and the outfitters.

I've hunted a wilderness study area just south of your home for several years. This year I spent several days hiking this place with a buddy who had a bull tag for that area. It was great to not have to deal with the quad traffic and trails everywhere. I shudder at the thought of losing the right to hunt there.

I'm aware that I can hunt with a resident in the wilderness areas. I have met some really nice folks in Wyoming, but none who hunt the wilderness areas. I'm sitting on max points for elk. I'm torn on what to do with them. Pay huge money for a Walmart Elk hunt, (hint) Pay a ton, to do a pack in wilderness outfitted hunt or roll the dice again and hunt a roaded area with the crowds and quads. Its just frustrating to be locked out of some really great looking elk country.
 
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