Rock Springs Resource Management Plan

Cover of a report from the Rock Springs RMP Task Force

In 2011, The Bureau of Land Management’s Rock Springs Field Office initiated a revision of its Resource Management Plan, the guiding document for land use planning. In 2023, BLM released its Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), selecting Alternative B as the preferred alternative. The draft RMP says that Alternative B “emphasizes conservation of resource values with constraints on resource use” (ES-3, Draft RMP).

In response to public outcry about the agency’s preferred alternative, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon assembled a task force representing diverse Wyoming interests—Wyoming House of Representatives, Wyoming Senate, conservation, economic development and tourism, livestock, local government, mining, motorized access, oil and gas, renewable energy and utilities, and sportsmen and hunting—and charged the task force with developing consensus recommendations for revising the Draft RMP to meet the needs of Wyoming stakeholders.

Those consensus recommendations—which all task force members supported and which reflect the commitment of thousands of hours in pursuit of common ground—were submitted to the BLM as a comment on the Draft RMP and are publicly available here.

They include 24 agreements in principle, which allow the task force to speak broadly on critical issues, and more than 100 management prescriptions, which focus on specific management actions linked to one of the four RMP alternatives.

View the task force letter to BLM

Governor's Task Force

The Governor’s Task Force, representing multiple Wyoming interests, will cooperatively develop recommendations for responsible and durable management of the Rock Springs Management Area of Southwest Wyoming.

It will accomplish this through mutual education; transparency in process; fostering communication between interests; and identifying, evaluating, and recommending options that will balance the needs of the many stakeholders involved.

Recommendations will be submitted to the Governor and the Bureau of Land Management, and made available to the public.

Click here to view the task force charter, which the task force adopted unanimously.

Task Force Meeting Summaries

December 11, 2023 — Meeting 1 Summary

December 20, 2023 — Meeting 2 Summary | BLM Special Designation Presentation

December 27, 2023 — Meeting 3 Summary

January 4 and 5, 2024 — Meeting 4 Summary | BLM Travel Management Letter

Input to the task force

During the process, a portal was available here to submit input to the governor's task force. Four comments were submitted through the portal and were forwarded to the task force.

Input submitted here went to the governor's task force and not to the BLM. If you would like to submit a comment directly to the BLM, find more information about how to do so in the section below.

Task Force Members

Task Force Chair: Joel Bousman

Although it is recognized that task force members have multiple interests and may participate in discussions from various perspectives, task force members broadly represent the following organizations and interest groups:  

Wyoming House of Representatives: House Speaker Albert Sommers, albert.sommers@wyoleg.gov
Wyoming Senate: Senate President Ogden Driskill, ogden.driskill@wyoleg.gov
Conservation: Alec Underwood, alec@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org
Economic Development and Tourism: Kayla McDonald, mcdonaldk@sweetwatercountywy.gov
Livestock: Jim Magagna, jim@wysga.org
Local Government: Keaton West, westk@sweetwatercountywy.gov
Mining and Trona: Mike McGrady, mmcgrady@sisecam.com
Motorized Recreation: Taylor Jones, jonest@sweetwatercountywy.gov
Oil and Gas: Colin McKee, colin@pawyo.org
Renewable Energy and Utilities: Ron Wild, Ron.wild@rockymountainpower.net
Sportsmen and Hunting: Josh Coursey, josh@muleyfanatic.org

Each member of the task force is supported by up to three advisors who will attend the meetings and provide counsel to the voting members. The legislative advisors are listed below.

Wyoming House of Representatives Advisors
- Clark Stith, clark.stith@wyoleg.gov
- J.T. Larson, jt.larson@wyoleg.gov
- Cody Wylie, cody.wylie@wyoleg.gov
Wyoming Senate Advisors
- John Kolb, john.kolb@wyoleg.gov
- Stacy Jones, stacy.jones@wyoleg.gov
- Dan Dockstader, dan.dockstader@wyoleg.gov

Public Workshops

November 17, 2023 — Rock Springs, Wyoming

Western Wyoming Community College, Room 3650
2500 College Dr, Rock Springs, WY 82901 (map, diagram, photo)
Park in the south lot, enter the Wellness Center through door #5, go past the pool and up the stairs

2:00-4:00 p.m., focus topics: livestock / industry
5:00-7:00 p.m., focus topics: recreation and tourism / wildlife and conservation

November 18, 2023 — Green River, Wyoming

Western Wyoming Community College Green River Center, JWP (John Wesley Powell) Room 206
1 College Way, Green River, WY 82935 (map)

9:00-11:00 a.m., all topics with breakout groups

November 18, 2023 — Farson, Wyoming

Eden Valley Community Center
4039 US-191, Farson, WY 82932 (map)

2:00-4:00 p.m., all topics with breakout groups

These initial public workshops will inform a governor-appointed stakeholder task force, which will develop recommendations to be delivered to the Governor and BLM in January.

Task force members will attend these public workshops to hear directly from the public.

Public Workshop Report

A report on the public workshop, including major themes and results from the workshop evaluation, is available for viewing and download.

View Public Workshop Report

View Raw Data

Public Workshop Presentations

Temple Stoellinger, associate professor at the University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and the UW College of Law, presented on the resource managment planning process and how to make a substantive comment to the BLM. View her slides >

Micah Christensen, natural resource counsel for the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, presented on how to read a draft Resource Management Plan. View a recording of his presentation >

How to Comment to the BLM on a NEPA Process

Outside of the public meetings, which will gather input to inform the governor's task force in drafting its recommendations on the Rock Springs RMP, citizens are also encouraged to submit individual comments directly to the BLM. Here, we offer guidance and resources on how to comment effectively.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their actions on the environment, including interrelated social, cultural, and economic effects. This environmental review process has two major purposes:

ensuring that agencies consider the significant environmental consequences of their proposed actions and
informing the public about agency decision making.

In accordance with NEPA, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has opened a comment period on its Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Rock Springs Field Office. The deadline to comment is January 17, 2024.

Guidance on Commenting

Comments may be the most important contribution from citizens because they promote informed decision making. Comments should:

provide sufficient detail for the agency to understand the commenter’s position and why the issues raised are important to the decision.
be clear, concise, relevant to the analysis of the proposed action, and submitted during the public comment periods.
have a polite and respectful tone. Those reviewing comments are public servants tasked with a job, and they deserve respect and professional treatment.
be solution-oriented and provide specific examples, which will make comments more effective than simply opposing the proposed project.
contribute to developing alternatives that address the purpose and need for the action.

Resources and More Information

Rock Springs Resource Management Plan NEPA page

Federal Register Notice with information about where to submit comments

A Citizen's Guide to NEPA, by the Council on Environmental Quality

"Having Your Voice Heard: How to Effectively Get the Agency's Attention in a NEPA Comment to Affect the Final Decision," paper by Temple Stoellinger

Commenting is not a form of “voting” on an alternative. The number of positive or negative comments an agency receives does not determine the final action. Agencies typically respond collectively to numerous comments that repeat the same basic message of support or opposition.

If you think the proposed action will have a significant environmental effect, explain why the issues you raise are significant to the consideration of potential environmental impacts and alternatives to the proposed action. General comments that state an action will have “significant environmental effects” will not help an agency make a better decision unless the comment explains the relevant causes and environmental effects.

In drafting comments, focus on the purpose and need of the proposed action, the proposed alternatives, the assessment of the environmental impacts of those alternatives, and the proposed mitigation.

This information was adapted from A Citizen's Guide to NEPA: Having Your Voice Heard, Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President, 2021.