public lands

Two Western lawmakers have reintroduced companion bills to establish a federal conservation corps. It would invest $9 billion in a civilian workforce dedicated to public lands, part of a $40 billion package focused on conservation, restoration and rural economies.

In an effort to address climate change, the Biden Administration handed down a series of executive actions including one that will pause onshore and offshore leasing of federal oil and gas. The majority of both oil and gas production in Wyoming occurs on federal land.

A public land project in Laramie has been awarded the 2020 Project of the Year by the Wyoming Planning Association.

In 2018, community members started trying to figure out how to purchase a 7,100 acre ranch on the outskirts of town in hopes of protecting it from development.

Last March, a federal court ordered the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management to provide better analysis of the climate impacts of oil and gas leasing on public land. After receiving that analysis, the judge rules it's not enough.

The Shoshone National Forest Travel Management plan is facing criticism just as the public comment period comes to a close.

A small portion of the Pilot Hill parcel is now open to the public. The parcel, located on the eastern edge of Laramie, is part of a collaborative effort to protect nearly 4,344 acres for nonmotorized recreation and wildlife habitat.

The Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners closed a land exchange on Friday that secures 4,343 acres of land for the Pilot Hill Project. The exchange has been in the works for more than two years and traded 11,668 acres of isolated state trust land for the area now in Pilot Hill.

National parks in the Mountain West are seeing a surge in visitors. And while tourism can spell good news for struggling local economies, some are worried not only about spikes in COVID-19 cases but also added pressure on the landscape.

After a heated and lengthy meeting last Tuesday, the Sublette County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 against the construction of a luxury resort in the small ranching community of Bondurant. The resort would have required a change in local zoning rules, with 43 acres of agricultural land reclassified as recreational.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages 18 million acres of public land in Wyoming. Out of that, close to 11 million acres are leased for oil and gas production.

A 4,350-acre parcel of land on the Wyoming-South Dakota border is now protected as state land. The property is in the western Black Hills and improves access to more than 8,000 acres of adjacent public land in the two states.

In an unexpected move, Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a bill that would have laid the groundwork for a major land and mineral rights deal between Wyoming and Occidental Petroleum.

Federal lands are much better at reducing habitat loss and protecting endangered species than private lands, according to a new study out this week by researchers at Tufts University and the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife.

Both the Wyoming House and Senate began discussing the possible purchase of a million acres of surface land and four million acres of mineral rights. Legislative leaders said the goal is to establish ground rules that could make such a purchase possible. 

Wyoming lawmakers continue working on a bill that would allow the state to look into purchasing a million acres of land in southern Wyoming.  

The swath of one million acres of land in southern Wyoming is currently owned by Occidental Petroleum and doesn't include any private or federal land.

Park County will soon have a natural resources management plan for its federal and state lands, and is inviting the public to participate in a steering committee that will help shape the plan. 

The State of Wyoming is working on a massive land deal that would involve one million square acres across southern Wyoming.