Sponsors (2)
The bill protects large swaths of public land and secures recreation, wildlife, and grazing continuity for local communities while creating new, localized motorized opportunities — but it also constrains clean‑energy and infrastructure siting, authorizes some fossil‑fuel activity, and imposes administrative costs and localized environmental impacts, forcing a trade‑off between conservation/recreation goals and energy/infrastructure/economic development.
Residents, visitors, and local businesses in the bill area gain long‑term federal protection for roughly 86,000+ acres (combined wilderness and Special Management Area withdrawals), preserving scenery, wildlife habitat, and recreation access that supports tourism and local economies.
Ranchers and grazing permit holders retain continued grazing access and predictable administration under existing statutory frameworks, preserving livelihoods and operational continuity for livestock operations.
Federal, State, and private landowners adjacent to new wilderness areas get an explicit, near‑term wildfire management obligation (a fire management plan required within 180 days) intended to reduce fire, disease, and insect risk to their lands.
Renewable energy developers, utilities, and rural communities lose the ability to site new wind/solar projects and, in some places, transmission or communications towers are prohibited, which constrains clean‑energy deployment, broadband/grid upgrades, and related local jobs.
Nearby residents and communities face increased risk of pollution, traffic, and infrastructure strain because the bill authorizes oil and gas leasing and underground rights‑of‑way on some released lands (and allows directional‑drilling constraints elsewhere), enabling fossil fuel development in parts of the bill area.
Motorized recreation designations, and studies that may expand motorized access, could increase noise, erosion, wildlife disturbance, and conflicts with non‑motorized users for nearby residents and recreationists if mitigation is inadequate.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Designates wilderness, conservation, special management, and motorized recreation areas on BLM/Forest lands in Wyoming; releases certain WSAs; and requires studies and travel/fire-management plans.
Introduced February 20, 2025 by John A. Barrasso · Last progress February 20, 2025
Designates several new wilderness areas, a national conservation area, special management areas, and a motorized recreation area on Bureau of Land Management lands in Wyoming; releases certain wilderness study areas for management under other BLM authorities; and requires studies, land-exchange efforts, and travel-management plans to guide future motorized recreation and land use. It directs the Interior Department to create fire-management and travel-management plans on set timelines, limits certain types of development and mineral activities in designated areas, and creates a local implementation team (exempt from FACA) to advise on Fremont County actions.