The Fortification elk herd, which lives in what some call “the wildest country remaining in the Powder River Basin,” is one of the only plains elk populations in the continental US. After reintroduction to the Fortification Creek watershed of northeast Wyoming in the 1950s the herd now numbers around 250 animals. Hunters covet licenses for this area, where juniper cloaked hills and rugged draws shelter trophy bulls.
“Fortification” is a fitting name for a herd that thrives in this rough, arid landscape, about 40 miles east of more prime elk habitat in the Bighorn Mountains. But if a pending energy development plan goes through, a name change — to, say, the “Sacrifice” herd — might be in order.
In the basins and ranges of the West, a push to expand natural gas development is about to crank up. The Casper Star Tribune warns us, “to expect a significant resurgence of natural gas production in Wyoming and throughout the Rockies.” And the Bureau of Land Management is preparing to permit nearly 500 coal-bed methane wells within the Fortification elk herd’s range.
Existing coal-bed methane activity to the west and south is already boxing the elk in. One study showed that Fortification elk tend to stay a half mile away from roads, and up to 1.7 miles away from coal-bed methane wells. A few wells already keep the elk off some habitat they might otherwise use. “These elk aren’t adjusting well to the intensity of (coal-bed methane) development already occurring,” Mark Winland of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation told the Casper Star Tribune. “If we don’t do this right, we’re looking at sacrificing both an elk herd and its habitat.”
The MIT report reassures that “government regulation, along with the application of industry-developed best practice, has served to minimize environmental impact from gas production for the most part.” But communities near intense natural gas development have already suffered from contaminated water supplies, escalating smog and diminishing wildlife populations. For example, sage grouse near coal-bed methane activity declined by 82 percent in the Powder River Basin from 2001 to 2005.
Even so, the BLM says the impacts new coal-bed methane development would bring to the Fortification Creek area aren’t even significant enough to warrant a full environmental analysis, writing [pdf], “Elk are a common species ranging throughout mountainous regions of western North America. Many eastern states have reintroduced populations. The viability of a small Wyoming elk herd is insignificant within the national and regional contexts.”
Maybe the Fortification herd is a small price to pay for a cleaner energy future, but as the sacrifices add up — a group of elk here, some sage grouse leks there — the losses that come with embracing natural gas may not be so insignificant.
Photo of coalbed methane development in the Powder River Basin from USGS.
Emilene Ostlind is a High Country News intern.
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