Conservation Groups Challenge Oil and Gas Lease Sales in Big Game Migration Corridors

Conservation Groups Challenge Oil and Gas Lease Sales in Big Game Migration Corridors

Lease sales in Colorado and Wyoming threaten sensitive public land resources and habitat

Contacts

Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, [email protected]

Emily Denny, The Wilderness Society, [email protected]

Conservation groups today filed suit over the Trump administration's approval of two large oil and gas lease sales in Colorado and Wyoming, which threaten big game migration corridors and pristine, wilderness-quality lands in the region. The groups argue that the Bureau of Land Management violated federal law by contravening agency regulations protecting such areas and failing to grapple with the impacts of fossil fuel development on wildlife and public lands. The agency incorrectly claimed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's pro-industry leasing provisions allowed it to disregard those harms.

"The lands leased by BLM in Northwest Colorado are public lands that I have enjoyed and hunted on for years," said Luke Schafer, Wilderness Workshop member and lifelong sportsman. "The mule deer populations in Northwest Colorado have seen significant declines in recent years and additional habitat loss and fragmentation from oil and gas development will only worsen conditions for the species. It is disheartening that productive public lands that are enjoyed by so many - lands that are critical to sustaining wildlife populations - could soon be carved up by well pads, pipelines, and access roads."

The lease sales collectively cover over 430 square miles of public land, including important migration corridors for antelope, elk, and mule deer. These migration corridors have been used for thousands of years and represent the longest remaining land mammal migrations in the contiguous United States. The lease sales violated BLM regulations requiring the agency to give preference to leasing outside those areas. Allowing oil and gas development in these habitats threatens the survival of these iconic big-game species and the benefits they provide to economies of both states, including through hunting. Both Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and Colorado Governor Jared Polis have signed executive orders on the need to protect these corridors and the importance of big game to both states.

"Our public lands are not commodities for the oil and gas industry," said Adina Nadler, associate attorney with The Wilderness Society. "They are spectacular landscapes that give us the freedom to explore and enjoy the outdoors, while providing essential habitat for wildlife. The administration has flagrantly cast aside these values to appease the oil and gas industry, and we will not stand for it. Public lands should be handed down to our children, not serve as a gambit for the administration's short-sighted fossil fuel dominance agenda."

The conservation groups also argue that the Bureau of Land Management failed to address the impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which restricts the agency's ability to protect big game and other resources during the leasing process. Since BLM's existing management plans do not account for the new restrictions, the groups argue the agency must revisit those plans to ensure adequate public land protections before continuing to rely on them for oil and gas leasing.

"The Bureau of Land Management's failure to follow its regulations and consider the impacts of these oil and gas lease sales on pristine public lands and wildlife violates the law," said Clay Samford, attorney with Earthjustice's Biodiversity Defense Program. "The significance of these centuries-old big game migration corridors cannot be overstated. That the agency would ignore the potential impacts on wildlife, the hunting community, and millions of public lands users to please the fossil fuel industry is both unlawful and shortsighted."

Earthjustice represents The Wilderness Society and Wilderness Workshop in the lawsuit.

Additional Resources

• About the Biodiversity Defense Program
• About the Rocky Mountain Office

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