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September 2007, Issue 9

LightHawk's monthly update, WayPoint, was created to share some of the good news we on staff learn about daily. These success stories illustrate the critical role we play in conservation efforts throughout North and Central America through the unique perspective of flight. We hope you enjoy WayPoint and will share with others our success stories from above.

Protecting “America’s Outback”: Flights over the Red Desert Reveal Impact of Intensive Oil and
Gas Development

For LightHawk volunteer pilot Bob Peterson, seeing Adobe Town in Wyoming’s Red Desert was an eye-opening experience: “This should be a National Park!” After 34 years with the National Park Service, Bob is not easily impressed by natural wonders. But his flights in Adobe Town and the Jack Morrow Hills caused him to exclaim “…the immensity, complexity and beauty of the area…is overwhelming.”

Bob is not the first to feel awe in experiencing the Red Desert. Efforts to have the area designated as a Winter Game Reserve began in the late 1800s. Subsequent efforts sought to protect the Jack Marrow Hills area as a National Park, a Wild Horse Refuge, and a National Wildlife Refuge.

Home to more than 350 species of wildlife, “America’s Outback” provides critical winter range for large mammals such as pronghorn antelope and elk, and breeding and nesting habitat for sage grouse and feruginous hawks. The longest terrestrial mammal migration in the lower 48 states, made by pronghorn and mule deer, runs through this region as well. Abundant fossil resources and archeological sites are found in Adobe Town - still used as an important religious site by Native Americans.

Red Desert habitats, however, are threatened by oil and gas development. Plans for 255 coalbed methane wells are underway through the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Jack Morrow Hills region alone. This number is not a cap, but an initial estimate, and is certain to rise as new reserves are discovered; the BLM admits the scope of development is unknown because the energy reserve potential is not known. More wellpads and roads mean less forage for wildlife, closed migration routes, soil compaction, and water, noise, and light pollution.

LightHawk is working with conservation partners such as Friends of the Red Desert, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance (BCA), The Wilderness Society, and Wyoming Outdoor Council to address these threats - as we have since 2001.


Adobe Town in the Red Desert. LightHawk

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Intensive oil and gas development in Jonah field.
LightHawk

The aerial perspective is critical to comprehending the impacts of oil and gas development on Red Desert ecosystems. Our guided flights take county commissioners, state representatives, local media, and tribal representatives over currently undeveloped land in Adobe Town and Jack Morrow Hills, allowing our partners to advocate for protection of the most environmentally-sensitive lands and compare these areas to intensive oil and gas development in Jonah Field and the Upper Green River Valley.

We also are providing flights for Wyoming’s Environmental Quality Council (EQC), in collaboration with BCA. EQC is a governor-appointed citizen board that reviews grievances under the state’s Environmental Quality Act that has accepted a petition from BCA to designate Adobe Town as “very Rare or Uncommon” (which may help to encourage the BLM to avoid oil and gas leasing there). BCA must make their case to EQC and Wyoming’s Assistant Attorney General; LightHawk flights are providing opportunities to do so. We also are flying paleontologists, photographers, and economists - retained by our partners to undertake an analysis of the impact of this development on local communities - to help inform BLM management plans and expand public support.

Quotes From The Flight

“The view from the sky answered the question for me about coalbed methane and gas development. The area of wells was staggering. There is little room for any kind of wildlife to exist.”
-- Kassel Weeks, Eastern Shoshone Business Council

“[We] …photographed a new gas well deep in the Adobe Town citizens’ proposed wilderness, which we would not have known was there without the overflight. This was an outstanding flight …and also alerted us to major drilling issues that were not apparent based on the usual NEPA process.”
-- Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist/Executive Director, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance

About LightHawk

Founded in 1979, LightHawk is a nonprofit, volunteer pilot-based organization that flies environmental missions in collaboration with a network of more than 140 pilots and hundreds of partner organizations throughout Central and North America. LightHawk flights provide a powerful and effective platform for research, groundtruthing, environmental awareness and education.

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Contact Information

International Headquarters
LightHawk
PO Box 653
Lander, WY 82520
Tel.: (307) 332-3242
Fax: (307) 332-1641
Email: info@lighthawk.org

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