The Beartooth Mountains, which pass along the eastern front of Wyoming and into Montana, offer numerous recreational opportunities and are home to many prized animal and plant species, some of which are rare and threatened. The Beartooth Front provides wintering grounds for elk, pronghorn, mule deer, white tail deer, mountain goat, and bighorn sheep. It is home to bald and golden eagles, mountain plover, long billed curlew, sage grouse and many other rare birds. Sego lily, harebell, Wyoming paintbrush, yucca and countless other species of wildflowers create a colorful palette every summer on the Beartooth foothills as they slope up toward the world-renowned Beartooth Plateau in the Shoshone National Forest.

The southern part of the Beartooth Front, known as Bald Ridge, harbors superb wildlife habitat. Big game herds descend from Sunlight Basin to nourish themselves in the lower elevations during winter and spring. It is not uncommon to see herds of 800 to 1,000 animals grazing together. Avian residents include osprey, pelicans, swans, sandhill cranes, partridge, pheasant and a myriad of songbirds. Bald Ridge also contains many Native American sites worthy of inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and significant paleontology sites. Rugged, wild, pristine, this is a place worthy of preservation for the continued use of wildlife and outdoor enthusiasts. It is no surprise, then, that the federal government designated some 5,000 acres near the mouth of Clarks Fork Canyon the “Bald Ridge Special Management Area” where industrial activity is barred at times of the year when wildlife is present.

Four trailheads provide access to the Beartooth Front for hunting, fishing, horseback riding and hiking. Much of the area is also open to mountain biking, all-terrain vehicles, and jeeps. The Front is drained by tributaries of the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone, Wyoming’s only designated Wild and Scenic River. Besides its natural beauty, it provides fulfilling opportunities for anglers, kayakers and canoeists.

Currently, roadless parts of the Shoshone National Forest are off-limits to new leasing, under an agreement between Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal and the U.S. Forest Service. This moratorium – which does not affect roaded parts of the National Forest or parcels already under lease – will be lifted once the Shoshone National Forest revises its Forest Plan. A 1,600-acre lease sold in June 2006 is under protest by The Wilderness Society and other conservation groups. Meanwhile, parts of Bald Ridge were kept out of the project area for a massive seismic study that took place over the summer of 2006. The Clarks Fork is designated Wild and Scenic, but that designation covers only the stretch within the Shoshone National Forest.

In 2006, the BLM authorized a seismic 3-D study on a 47-square-mile swath of the Beartooth Front, covering a stretch of transitional foothill habitat between the desert and the mountains. Land ownership is a mix of BLM, national forest, state, and private. If the underground mapping study identifies large oil and gas reserves, the area could see a huge influx in industrial activity, including a newly approved natural gas pipeline and additional exploratory wells.

If current exploration pans out, the Beartooth Front could see full-field development similar to what is unfolding in the Upper Green River Valley at the other end of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Unlike the large corporate operators in the Upper Green, however, the Beartooth Front’s principal operator has so far shown little interest in being a good neighbor. In August 2006, the company, Oklahoma-based Windsor Energy Group, lost control of an exploratory well, resulting in a “blowout” that leaked natural gas and forced the evacuation of a nearby subdivision.

According to local activist Deb Thomas, Windsor built substandard retention pits at its test well sites, apparently ignoring guidelines put forth by the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Thomas documented spills and leaks of potentially toxic liquids. In 2005, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality fined Windsor for illegally dumping drilling fluids and other liquid wastes on a vacant lot in the town of Powell.

“My goal is to help people gather the information and tools they need to protect their lands, both public and private, and their way of life,” says Thomas, a community organizer for the recently formed Clark Resource Council. “We cannot rush into rapid development at the expense of our clean air and water. Our lands and natural resources must be protected for the other creatures we share them with and for future generations.”

The Windsor Energy Group is the principal operator interested in developing federal oil and gas leases here. It has already drilled five wells from two pads just outside the National Forest boundary near the town of Clark. Windsor was developing a third site in the summer of 2006 when a major leak on Aug. 11 forced a shut down in operations and drew scrutiny from regulators. No drilling currently is scheduled for the Shoshone National Forest, although thousands of acres on the National Forest are under lease. Also in the works is a pipeline to connect Windsor’s test wells with a proposed gas-processing facility.

And a large swath of the Shoshone National Forest is included in the 47-square-mile 3-D mapping project, authorized in 2006. That summer, seismic crews fanned out on the Beartooth Front, drilling 30-foot shotholes every 220 feet. By measuring the shock waves from the underground explosions, energy promoters planned to create three-dimensional maps of the earth below, revealing the locations of potential pockets of natural gas. The project, which was to be wrapped by the start of hunting season, requires 3,420 shotholes and 7,018 receiver points.

“It will be another wound to the Yellowstone Ecosystem if prudent and low-impact development does not occur, and in some special highly critical areas maybe no development would be best.”
- Ken Lichtendahl of Clark

The prospect of large-scale industrial activity has galvanized a movement to slow development. About 100 local residents and property owners came together to form the Clark Resource Council, whose mission is to keep citizens informed and help preserve the Beartooth Front’s natural splendor, wildlife, recreational opportunities and quality of life. The council’s Deb Thomas has documented some of Windsor’s abysmal practices. Other active residents are highlighting the threat energy development poses to the Beartooth’s natural values.

“The Beartooth Front is a very special place and is the eight-month winter home to a large and diverse group of Wyoming’s big game. Without very special provisions and stipulations to minimize impacts of gas development this wildlife treasure will be in jeopardy,” says Ken Lichtendahl of Clark. “It will be another wound to the Yellowstone Ecosystem if prudent and low-impact development does not occur, and in some special highly critical areas maybe no development would be best.”

The best hope for the area is to secure a revised Forest Plan and BLM Cody Area Resource Management Plan that puts real limits on oil and gas activity on the Shoshone National Forest and on sensitive BLM lands, which should be managed for the traditional uses it has supported for generations. The Wild and Scenic designation of the Clarks Fork should be extended downstream to include the equally sensitive portions on BLM lands.

For more information

Peter Aengst, The Wilderness Society, 406/586-1600
Brian Sybert, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, 307/527-6233
Deb Thomas, Clark Resource Council, 307/645-3236
Ken Lichtendahl, Clark resident, 307/645-3366
Lisa Dardy McGee, Wyoming Outdoor Council, 307/332-7031

Web site: www.clarkresourcecouncil.org