Environmental issues in Wyoming

Wildlife species that have been affected by these issues include: Within the state organizations and governments are working to combat these environmental threats and restore balance to the ecology.

The state's latest energy boom (1995–2010) is due to increased development in oil and natural gas production as well as further growth in the coal-mining industry.

The natural gas industry in the state continues to expand due to low levels of consumption and development of pipeline systems that facilitate transport to consumers in California and the Midwest.

While economic growth has proven beneficial in many aspects, it has also adversely impacted the environment of the least populous U.S. state, affecting the quality of air, water, soil and wildlife.

[5] According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), winter 2010 saw ozone pollution levels in the Upper Green River Basin of Sublette County, Wyoming surpass the worst days of any major U.S. city.

[10] Sublette County-based organization Citizens United for Responsible Energy Development (CURED), represented by environmental firm Earthjustice, served the EPA with intent to file lawsuit in early October 2011 unless the Upper Green River Basin be formally designated as a nonattainment area, or one that does not comply with current national standards set by the Clean Air Act.

Designation as a nonattainment area would initiate efforts to restore ozone levels to those in agreement with the Clean Air Act, ensuring that citizens' health is not at risk.

Former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal advised that the Upper Green River Basin be designated as a region that exceeds national standards for acceptable ozone levels in 2009.

Failure of the EPA to formally recognize the Upper Green River Basin as a nonattainment area is what instigates CURED's threat to sue.

Even Theodore Roosevelt, pioneer of conservation described the wolf as a “beast of waste and desolation.” Wolves were killed by hunting, trapping, snaring and poisoning.

Fish and Wildlife submitted a report to congress recommending wolves be reestablished in Idaho and Yellowstone National Park as nonessential experimental populations.

Barrasso lifted the hold following a commitment from Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to “aggressively pursue a solution” to the wolf delisting dispute.

Fish and Wildlife Service to remove grizzly bears from ESA protections in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem which includes northwestern Wyoming, southwestern Montana, and eastern Idaho.

[22] Wyoming faces a range of ecological risks but perhaps none greater than the current infestation of pine beetle populations across the coniferous forests of the state and surrounding regions.

In a typical climate large amounts of the beetle populations are killed during the days in the middle of winter when the temperature falls to minus 30 for weeks at a time.

This recovery process also entails a resiliency aspect that will allow future trees to be protected from pine beetle infestations by reducing stand densities.

The predicted 2.5 degree Celsius temperature increase will allow the beetles to further migrate into regions of massive Canadian forests and into the eastern United States that had once been protected by the vast plains of Middle America.

Together these companies funded a five-year sage grouse study examining the impact of natural gas development on the birds’ winter habitat, at a cost of $1.4 million.

[28] A smaller operator in the PAPA, Devon Energy, reported that oil and gas companies pledged $60 million in 2007 to monitor the sage grouse and its habitat in the vicinities of their well sites.

[29] Wyoming spent at least half a million dollars in 2010 solely to examine and redefine the map of the core areas of sage grouse habitat.

[30] In an August 2011 press release from the USDA, Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack disclosed that an additional 21.8 million will be spent to conserve sage grouse habitat in the form of government subsidies to farmers.

The adult is, on average, 2.2 inches in length and the color varies from brown to gray (often with a greenish tint) accompanied with darker blotches.

[34] The primary cause of the decline of the Wyoming toad is the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Db), which is affecting amphibian populations worldwide.

The fungus has been shown, in numerous studies, to cause disease in many different amphibian species and has been found in captive Wyoming Toad populations as well.

Chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, agricultural hormones and fertilizers, have been observed to directly alter the physiological development of the toads in some cases, and indirectly stress the amphibians, weakening their resistance to the Chrytrid fungus.

Because chemicals are usually tested individually, the ‘legal’ dosages of many agro-chemicals, which were considered to be harmless before, are now observed to be rather dangerous in combination with one another or with other factors already present such as the Chytrid fungus.

Due to their low number, there is a rather elevated rate of inbreeding, making the gene pool of the population small, and decreasing the likelihood to evolve resistance against pathogens including the Chytrid fungus.

Amphibians such as the Wyoming Toad are furthermore good indicators of ecosystem health, and their disappearance would not only signify the degradation of the environment but would also render assessment of the natural habitats harder.

Population spikes associated with industry growth result in urban sprawl, as demand for living space increases, further reducing habitat available to wildlife.

[41] Development of the Pinedale Anticline Project Area (PAPA) has impacted several species of big game dependent on western Wyoming for winter habitat, most notably pronghorn, mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep and moose.