Conservation groups’ analysis finds that the Bureau of Land Management’s finalized Rock Springs Resource Management Plan — which has been criticized as out of step with the state’s needs and priorities — incorporates 85% of the recommendations made by Wyoming’s governor-appointed task force.
The analysis “shows that the agency respects the collaborative process that Gov. [Mark] Gordon led and the consensus-based outcomes that the task force produced,” Wyoming Outdoor Council Program Director Alec Underwood said. “It’s apparent that the agency took seriously [the task force’s] substantive recommendations for management direction,” added Underwood, who was a task force member.
The finding, which the Wyoming Outdoor Council and the Wilderness Society released this week, contrasts criticism that the finalized plan is far from what the people of Wyoming want. It also comes after a state lawmaker called the task force process “flawed.”
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It’s the latest development in years of heated debate over how to manage some 3.6 million acres of public lands in southwestern Wyoming.
The enormous acreage in question, which the BLM Rock Springs Field Office oversees, encompasses everything from sand dunes to sagebrush ecosystems, badlands and wrinkled mountains. It’s home to the Northern Red Desert’s petroglyphs, pathways like the Continental Divide Trail and major wildlife corridors. People utilize it for economic activities like trona mining and livestock grazing and for recreation like OHV riding and camping.
A recap
The BLM in August released its finalized environmental impact statement outlining its proposed Resource Management Plan for the Rock Springs Field Office. The plan has not been updated since 1997.
This came a year after the agency released the draft plan, drawing intense backlash. The conservation-heavy “preferred alternative” released in 2023 sparked outrage over stricter limits on energy extraction and expansions of protected areas. Critics lambasted the plan as an instrument that would kill the area’s economy and close much-loved areas for outdoor recreation. Anger and misinformation — including erroneous information accidentally disseminated by the BLM itself — characterized the packed meetings that ensued. Some 35,000 comments poured in during the extended public comment period.
BLM Rock Springs Field Officer Supervisor Kimberlee Foster listens as a man expresses his disdain for the agency’s preferred alternative resource management draft plan during a meeting in Rock Springs Sept. 27, 2023. “I think you better listen to the people,” he said. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile)
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Amid that extended comment period, Gordon announced the formation of a gubernatorial task force, tapping the University of Wyoming’s Ruckelshaus Institute to facilitate stakeholder conversations. The intent was to hammer out recommendations supported by all the interests represented — everything from trona mining to oil and gas, conservation and hunting.
Despite representing disparate interests, the 11 members reached consensus on more than 100 recommendations for the BLM.
The agency carefully considered those recommendations as it drafted its finalized plan, BLM Wyoming Associate State Director Kris Kirby told a legislative committee in September. During that meeting, Sen. John Kolb (R-Rock Springs), who sat on the task force, said that while some good recommendations came out of the group, the process gave outsized weight to certain viewpoints.
“I think it was a flawed system that worked on 100% buy-in,” Kolb said.
Because of one dissenting member, Kolb said, the task force process was “shanghaied by the environmental groups,” resulting in recommendations that didn’t truly represent the majority.
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Steve Martin, past president of Bowhunters of Wyoming, attends a meeting about the BLM’s Rock Springs Area Resource Management Plan Revision in Rock Springs on Nov. 17. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile)
When the task force released its recommendations, Gordon touted them as a vehicle for how Wyoming knowledge can inform a better Rock Springs land management plan.
“It was critical we amplified the public’s involvement in this important BLM planning document, and shared with BLM how Wyoming, through collaboration, creates durable and quality land management policy,” he said.
Gordon also expressed displeasure with the finalized plan, which “does not meet Wyoming’s expectations of durable, multiple use of public lands,” he said following its release. “A cursory review makes it clear where the BLM considered local and cooperative input, and where the agency chose to force through national agendas.”
Not so fast
Wyoming Outdoor Council and The Wilderness Society manually compared each task force recommendation with the correlated management action in the Proposed RMP to produce their favorable review.
In a parallel effort, the public lands advocacy group Center for Western Priorities analyzed how well the BLM incorporated all public comments — not just Wyoming’s — into its final plan. The organization made a public records request for all 35,000+ comments, according to a press release, which allowed it to analyze the proportion in favor of or opposed to conservation of wild lands, wildlife habitats and important cultural areas. Using a random sample of 5,000 comments, the CWP found that 92% were in support of conservation measures.
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The Sand Dunes Wilderness Study Area encompasses 27,000 acres of BLM lands in the Red Desert. There, people can hike, bird watch and hunt. (Bob Wick/BLM/FlickrCC)
“It’s a really robust data set, and a very robust sample size to give you an idea of just how much support there was,” Aaron Weiss, deputy director of Center for Western Priorities, said. “And I think it gets to the point that as controversial as some folks in Wyoming wanted to paint this plan — that it was incredibly divisive — when you look at the actual numbers, it was not at all divisive.”
Weiss said the sheer number of comments illustrates sky-high interest among Western residents and called the proportion in support “stunning.”
“I can’t think of any major public policy issue that comes across the finish line with 92% public support,” he said. “That is really a stunning number, and I think a testament to how much listening BLM did, both at the agency level and especially at the field office level, to work in public feedback and comments into this proposed management plan.”
A 30-day protest period on the finalized plan ended in September, though a governor’s consistency review is still ongoing. These are among the final steps before the RMP becomes final.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
As a plaintiff in the 2022 lawsuit that kicked off years of legal sparring over Wyoming abortion rights, Dr. Giovannina Anthony had waited a long time for Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision on the state’s abortion bans.
“It has been a long road,” she said. One with ups and downs, drawbacks and delays. And even though the high court ruled against the state’s abortion bans, she’s not under the illusion that the fight for abortion access is over.
“But at least today, we can claim a victory and say, it was really worth it,” said Anthony, a Jackson obstetrician. “It was worth it to go four years and keep it up and keep raising money and keep the awareness going. I’m really proud of our team. I’m really proud of what we accomplished.”
In reading the Supreme Court’s decision siding with plaintiffs, Anthony said, “Clearly, this is a court that holds a lot of respect for our constitution.”
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That’s because much of the decision hinged on constitutional language.
Anthony and other plaintiffs argued that abortion is enshrined in the “right of health care access” in Article 1, Section 38 of the Wyoming Constitution. The clause states, “Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”
The state’s attorneys, meanwhile, countered that abortion isn’t health care.
But in deciding what that language means in this case, “all five Wyoming Supreme Court justices agreed that the decision whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy is a woman’s own health care decision protected by Article 1, Section 38,” the court’s summary stated.
As abortion rights activists in Wyoming and beyond celebrated the decision, the anti-abortion camp decried it and called for legislative action.
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“This ruling is profoundly unfortunate and sadly serves to only prolong the ultimate proper resolution of this issue,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement. While the ruling may settle a legal question for the time being, Gordon said, “it does not settle the moral one, nor does it reflect where many Wyoming citizens stand, including myself.”
Anti-abortion activists in the silent March for Life in Cheyenne in January 2020. (Nadav Soroker, Wyoming Tribune Eagle/Wyoming News Exchange)
Gordon asked the Attorney General’s office to file a petition for rehearing the decision, which it will file within 15 days.
The voters of Wyoming should settle the matter once and for all, Gordon argued. “A constitutional amendment taken to the people of Wyoming would trump any and all judicial decisions.”
He called on the Legislature to pass such an amendment during the upcoming session and deliver it to his desk. A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to appear on the ballot in the following general election.
Gordon may get his wish during the Legislature’s 2026 budget session, which convenes Feb. 9.
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State lawmakers are already preparing a bill to modify the Wyoming Constitution and clear a path for another attempted abortion ban. Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, a Republican from Hulett, said that he’s been workshopping language with Torrington Republican Sen. Cheri Steinmetz.
“I’ve got to run it by a lot of other people,” Neiman said.
Reps. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams and Chip Neiman listen during a 2023 hearing on their request to defend Wyoming’s abortion ban. (Brad Boner/Jackson Hole News&Guide/Pool)
Ideally, he added, a single constitutional amendment would be considered, although the legislative strategy is still up for discussion.
“We’ve got a little over a month before we have to be in session,” Neiman said. “That’ll give us time to kind of see which is maybe the best plan of action.”
A constitutional amendment would have to navigate the legislative process in a 20-day session geared toward passing Wyoming’s budget. Then, in the 2026 general election, more than half of Wyoming voters who cast a ballot would have to agree to the constitutional change.
Neiman struck an optimistic tone about an amendment’s prospects of passing the first hurdle during the session in Cheyenne.
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“I can’t speak for the other chamber,” he said, “but in my chamber I’ve got a lot of phone calls and a lot of texts from a lot of my legislators who are just beside themselves at what happened.”
Senate President Bo Biteman did not return a phone call before this story published.
Victorious
Chelsea’s Fund, an organization that helps pay for abortion services, was another of the plaintiffs that challenged Wyoming’s abortion bans. Executive Director Janean Forsyth said Tuesday’s decision affirms what her organization has long known: “that abortion is essential health care, and Wyoming women have a constitutional right and the freedom to make their own health care decisions, and that should be without government interference.”
Forsyth was flooded with messages and calls Tuesday, she said, especially from the community of reproductive rights organizations.
“I think that [the news is] a beacon of hope for, not only Wyoming communities and families, but also nationwide,” she said.
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Christine Lichtenfels was Chelsea’s Fund executive director when the original suit was filed and throughout much of the legal battle. Relief wasn’t quite the word to describe how she felt Tuesday, she said.
“In reading the decision, there is just a sense that, ‘Oh, there is reason in the world,” she said. “It makes me think that, yes, Wyoming is the Equality State. We can say that now without cringing.”
(Disclosure: Lichtenfels is currently working with WyoFile on an unrelated legal matter.)
The Wellspring Health Access clinic in Casper is pictured in December 2022, and shows signs of May 2022 arson, including boarded up windows. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile)
Wyoming’s only abortion clinic, Wellspring Health Access in Casper, was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Knowing the decision would directly impact the facility’s fate, Clinic President Julie Burkhart was nervous when she opened it. Reading quickly dispelled her fears, she said, as it dawned on her that the justices sided with the plaintiffs’ legal team.
“We are delighted,” she told WyoFile.
Many people questioned her 2021 decision to open an abortion clinic in such a conservative state, she said. The court decision solidifies an intuition she felt back then about Wyoming residents’ sense of what’s fair and right.
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Burkhart and colleagues expect future challenges to arise, however.
“While we celebrate today’s ruling, we know that anti-abortion politicians will continue their push to restrict access to health care in Wyoming with new, harmful proposals in the state legislature,” Burkart said in a statement. “Patients should not have to live in fear that their health care decisions will be suddenly upended at the whim of a judge or lawmaker.”
Across the state in Jackson, Dr. Anthony anticipates the Wyoming Freedom Caucus will attempt to pass laws that impose targeted restrictions against abortion providers — such as forcing patients to hear a fetal heartbeat or wait a certain time period before the procedure.
“Unfortunately, the fight’s not over,” Anthony said, “but this is a great moment for us.”
Heartache
Abortion opponents expressed sadness Tuesday and vehemently disagreed with the court’s opinion.
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State Rep. Rachel Rodriguez Williams was lead sponsor of one of the abortion bans. The Cody Republican and chair of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus did not respond to a request for comment, but posted about the decision on X.
“My heart aches for Wyoming today,” Rodriguez Williams posted. “Thanks to the decision of four unelected, unchecked attorneys, it’s open season in Wyoming for innocent, preborn babies. Make no mistake: courts can get things wrong, and they sure did get this wrong. I’ll never stop fighting to protect life.”
Anti-abortion billboards can be seen along some Wyoming highways. (Tennessee Watson/WyoFile)
Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray also protested the decision, which he called “outrageously wrong” and “a leftwing activist decision totally out of touch with the Wyoming Constitution.”
Natrona County anti-abortion activist Bob Brechtel, a former Wyoming House member, also expressed frustration with the courts, criticizing the nearly two-year-long wait for a decision and saying he was “ashamed” of the outcome from the high court.
In 2011, Brechtel co-sponsored the bill authorizing a later-successful constitutional amendment ballot measure that now protects individuals’ rights to make their own health care decisions. Born out of opposition to the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, what became Article 1, Section 38 caused some lawmakers to worry about potential unintended consequences.
Fifteen years later, one unintended consequence came to fruition. Reached Tuesday, Brechtel confirmed that he did not intend to protect women’s right to have an abortion in Wyoming.
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“There was nothing in the legislation about killing innocent human beings,” he said. “This whole thing has been completely regenerated into something that it was never intended to be.”
It is Week 4 in the 2026 Wyoming High School boys’ swimming and diving season. It features several medium-sized competitions. After a dual in Douglas on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday are packed with meets. Jackson hosts its two-day invitational with four teams heading to Teton County. There are three-team events in Casper, Gillette, and Sheridan on Friday, plus two five-team meets at Cody and Rock Springs.
WYOPREPS BOYS SWIMMING AND DIVING WEEK 4 SCHEDULE 2026
Saturday also has swim invites at Evanston, Powell, and Sheridan. The schedule for Week 4 of the prep boys’ swimming and diving season in the Cowboy State is below. The schedule is subject to change.
RAWLINS AT DOUGLAS – dual
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CASPER TRI at NCHS – Cheyenne East, Kelly Walsh, Natrona County.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A Wyoming man died Dec. 22 in a motorcycle-versus-truck collision in Laramie County.
According to a recently released incident report from the Wyoming Highway Patrol, 24-year-old Wyoming man Kyle Pandullo was headed west on a motorcycle as a van approached from the opposite direction. The WHP reports that the van attempted to turn left into a business entrance, forcing Pandullo to brake in an effort to avoid a crash. His bike tipped over onto its side, sliding into the van.
The WHP lists driver inattention as a possible contributing factor in the wreck.
This story contains preliminary information as provided by the Wyoming Highway Patrol. The agency advises that information may be subject to change.
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The Sand Dunes Wilderness Study Area encompasses 27,000 acres of BLM lands in the Red Desert. There, people can hike, bird watch and hunt. (Bob Wick/BLM/FlickrCC)
