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Counties To Help Decide Fate of Wilderness Study Areas

Wyoming County Commissioners Association

There are 45 wilderness study areas scattered around the state on federal lands that are, in effect, stuck in limbo; only an act of Congress can make them true wilderness or release them for other uses.

But a new program called the Wyoming Public Land Initiative introduced Wednesday at the Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee in Cheyenne would hand over the process of making that decision to county governments.

Wyoming County Commissioners Association Director Pete Obermueller says, the time has come to deal with those lands.

“Because right now, you can’t realize the full potential of these lands no matter what your desire is for them,” he says. “If you want them to be wilderness, they don’t have that full protection in terms of being able to say for tourism or recreation, come look at this new wilderness area. On the other side, the BLM recommendation had several acres that have resource potential. Can’t access those either.”

Obermueller says once all the counties decide whether to designate some of the areas wilderness, they’ll send a package to Congress for approval, but  the process could take years.

He says the initiative is collaborative with the support of both wilderness advocates and industry.  Carbon County has already agreed to participate, he says.

Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
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