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BLM Lander field office briefs commissioners on minerals, grazing, and access projects
Summary
BLM Lander field staff presented priorities including oil-and-gas activity, uranium exploration, a proposed Bureau of Reclamation revocation of a Muddy Ridge withdrawal, wild-horse planning and virtual-fencing pilots, and access issues for Dubois. Staff said retirements and vacancies have slowed some processes and committed to follow-up.
Ruth Miller, field manager for the Bureau of Land Management's Lander Field Office, and her staff briefed the Fremont County Board of Commissioners on federal public-land priorities and local projects on Wednesday, outlining energy, grazing, wild-horse and travel-management work planned for the year and noting staff vacancies that have slowed some reviews.
Miller told the board the Lander office manages about 2,500,000 acres of surface lands and 2,700,000 acres of mineral estate in the county’s region, nearly 300 grazing allotments, seven wild-horse management areas and about 1,700,000 acres of core sage-grouse habitat. "We have almost 300 grazing allotments, mostly cattle, sheep, some horses, 7 wild horse management areas for horses, And we have 1,700,000 acres of core sage grouse habitat as well," Miller said.
Key projects the office flagged included expanded development by Lost Soldier Oil and Gas on the south side of Green Mountain and pipeline tie-in work; two uranium-exploration efforts (one identified as Rush Uranium in the Copper Mountain area seeking hundreds of drill holes and another in the North Castle Spring/Jeffrey City area); and coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation on a proposed revocation of a roughly 56,000‑acre withdrawal at Muddy Ridge west of Boysen Reservoir. Miller said the Bureau of Reclamation and BLM are preparing federal-register notices, land-status updates and NEPA processes tied to that revocation.
The field office is developing a herd-management plan for the Red Desert herd complex and said it is exploring a Nature Conservancy-proposed virtual‑fencing pilot for Red Canyon that would place towers and GPS collars on cattle to reduce interior fencing and manage distribution. Miller said the virtual-fencing idea is early-stage and will require cultural, visual-resource and interagency review.
Commissioners asked for updates and for improved communication about projects. Commissioner questions touched on timelines for the Muddy Ridge federal‑register notice (Miller said cadastral resurvey work delayed the notice and that the state office is preparing it), staffing impacts after retirements and buyouts, and whether BLM could provide clearer, lay-friendly project lists. Miller agreed to pursue follow-up with the state office cadastral team and to return with further updates and reports.
On travel management and access, Miller described a recently surfaced local issue at Dubois involving a Third Street easement that accesses BLM lands used for recreation. She said there is a seasonal closure for bighorn-sheep habitat (December 1 to May 15) but that the BLM road is otherwise open; the agency will engage broader stakeholder discussions as a travel-management planning step.
Miller and her assistant field managers also discussed post-fire rehabilitation work, emphasizing that BLM uses emergency-stabilization and longer-term rehab processes and that cheatgrass and invasive-species control are high priorities after large fires. She said large-scale post-fire work can be costly and technically complex and that BLM tries to find grazing or other accommodations for permittees displaced by wildfire when feasible.
The commissioners requested regular briefings and a clearer project list in plain language; Miller said BLM would provide written follow-up and meet again in coming months to update elected officials.
