Northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming are home to a beautiful old growth forest, full of streams and lakes. This area, the Wasatch and Ashley national forests, is currently in danger. The Forest Service is considering granting leases for oil and gas exploration in these national forests.
These forests border on the High Uintas Wilderness Area, an area protected by federal law against industrial and commercial development, the building of roads, etc. If the Forest Service grants these leases, which is very likely to happen, oil companies would be able to build roads, drill wells, put in well pads and drilling equipment right up next to the protected wilderness area. Furthermore, the area in question includes old growth forests and is home to elk, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, black bears, cougars, moose, great gray owls, Colorado cutthroat trout and lynx. It is beautiful, mountainous country including the West Fork of Beaver Creek, the East Fork of Bear and Cataract Basin and Burnt Fork.The Forest Service devised seven alternative plans, none of which offer very much protection for the forest other than Alternative Four. The Forest Service's preferred plan opens up 245,000 acres of forest, designating 79,000 acres as NSO (no surface occupancy). This means that oil companies could not build structures on this land. However, clearing vegetation, road building and blasting would all be allowed. Also, NSO designations are easily reversed, opening up the land to drilling and the building of surface structures. The preferred plan also allows the lease holder to build roads, blast and clear drill sites on 85,000 acres of roadless forest. This makes it impossible for this land to ever become a federally protected wilderness area. Alternative Four protects roadless area, while opening up other areas for leasing.
There needs to be a compromise enacted here. We can protect roadless area while still allowing for limited development on land which is already partially developed, as suggested in Alternative Four.
Tennery Taylor Norton
Provo