Foundation News
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem - Wild, Precious, and at Risk
The Sierra Club Foundation Board of Directors joined a group of Sierra Club donors for several days in Grand Teton National Park this September. The group got an insider's view of the park and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, meeting with senior staff from conservation groups as well as senior park officials. Whether tourists come to fish the pristine waters, hike the trails, climb the mountains, or view the incredible wildlife, there's no doubt that this ecosystem is an icon of the world as it once was—it’s the only place in the lower 48 that exists largely the way it did before Columbus discovered America. This is precious; this is our legacy from an earlier, more natural era of human history.
Yet, there are forces at work that imperil this precious ecosystem. While the efforts of groups like Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range led to the passage of the Legacy Act in 2009, permanently protecting 1.2 million acres in the Wyoming Range from future development, that legislation grandfathered existing oil and gas leases, allowing lease-holders to move forward with development in the Wyoming Range just south of the Tetons. Specifically, Plains Exploration and Production Co. (PXP) currently plans to drill 136 gas wells on 17 pads in the Wyoming Range. PXP's plan to drill and frack in the Range generated almost 60,000 public comments in 2011, more than any other project on the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Leading the charge to protect the Wyoming Range is a retired Marine, hunting outfitter and self-described conservative named Dan Smitherman. "I am the antithesis of a tree-hugger,” he recently told a reporter. Dan’s work epitomizes the broad alliances that have formed among groups often thought to be in conflict -- ranchers, hunters and environmentalists -- and it just might represent a new paradigm in how we protect public lands in the West going forward. Under pressure, the Forest Service has gone back to the drawing board and its alternative plan for the area is due in mid-September.
Switching gears, we also spent time during our trip discussing the thorny issue of wolf recovery in the GYE. Just last week, the Obama administration removed wolves in Wyoming from the Endangered Species list, turning their management over to the states. The Sierra Club disagrees with the Administration's decision. According to the Club's press release, under Wyoming’s plan the wolf population could be reduced in a very short period of time to just 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs outside of the national parks and the Wind River Indian Reservation. The plan allows wolves in 85% of the state to be killed anytime, by any means, without a license. What got us to this point? By all accounts the amazing wolf recovery in the GYE is a testament to the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act. Yet, will the wolves’ successful recovery ultimately lead to their demise because of Wyoming's overreach? Will we, as humans, learn to co-exist with wolves or will our more-often-than-not unjustified fears of this predator get the better of us? Stay tuned to find out...
Larry Keeshan
Chair, TSCF Board of Directors
Category: News and Updates