Deer Population Plummets On Natural Gas Field In Wyoming, Pinedale Anticline, But Feds Won't Reduce Drilling Yet

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Mule deer numbers on one of the nation's most abundant gas fields have fallen to their lowest level in at least nine years, but federal officials are not yet resorting to reduced drilling.

Instead, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is looking at ways to improve winter habitat for mule deer on the Pinedale Anticline in western Wyoming.

A recent report estimates there were 60 percent fewer wintering mule deer on part of the anticline in 2009 compared with 2001, and 28 percent fewer mule deer in 2009 compared with 2005.

Shane DeForest with the BLM in Pinedale says the agency is studying a variety of ways to help mule deer short of slowing industry activity.

The Pinedale Anticline is the nation's third-ranked gas field for proven reserves.

Comments

[John Denton]

11:55 AM on 12/31/2010

Where did the deer go? The oil rig workers shoot them.

[O Dannyboy]

02:48 PM on 12/06/2010

Why are comments prohibited (after just 27 comments) on this other fracking-related story?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/01/ge-mobile-evaporator-will_n_746659.html

Is Arianna invested in the company whose blatantly greenwash product is being promoted?

[bleedingheart9]

11:40 PM on 12/02/2010

Run Bambi, Rruuunnn!

[SweetJudith]

10:53 AM on 11/30/2010

Is anyone surprised?!? If you are, then you have alot to learn!!!!

[NVEnvy07]

07:51 AM on 11/17/2010

Bigggg surprise. They'll never do anything worthwhile to help the deer. They have high populations elsewhere so let's give them 100 years before extinction.

[Progress08]

11:20 AM on 11/16/2010

Seriously. The Fracking and the chemicals used for it WILL destroy our water table and aquifers. If you're OK with turning america into a barren desert then support drilling for natural gas.


http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7054210n

[hellboundtrain]

12:45 PM on 11/14/2010

What flourishes in stink & stench and overall degradation of an ecosystem?

[Left of Right]

12:22 AM on 11/14/2010

The article does not say what happened to the deer. Did they die? Because of the gas? Starve due to loss of vegetation because of the gas? Move to a different neighborhood? I would invite them here and let them feast on my flower like the rest of the dear around here but there are too many coyotes and they'd be better off elsewhere!

Lot's missing from that article though.

[sonofsamphm1c]

02:43 PM on 11/14/2010

It says they banned off-road vehicles in an area nearby. Whatever you do, write the article before you look there.

[MetrointheWoods]

10:04 AM on 11/13/2010

I've done work with land-use, conservation, and hunting advocacy groups for years. The most important thing I've learned is simple: DO NOT TRUST THE BLM!!! They cannot be trusted to do anything of importance.

The BLM has been known to miscount, manipulate, and just outright falsify data on a regular basis. If the BLM is involved, odds are there is something wrong with the statistical methodology. To me, the fundamental problem is simple: the BLM just didn't do it's job at some point. Were the previous surveys flawed? Was this survey flawed? Or, in the absence of a statistical explanation, was their some kind of 'activity irregularity' involving malfesance on the part of the BLM?

[john649]

12:21 AM on 11/16/2010

the BLM is herding up thousands of horses from PUBLIC LAND in NV, selling them for slaughter and giving the land use to cattle for corp. profits. Their lying by saying the horses are starving and need to be saved, their lying about the amount of land used and over counting the number of horses that need to be removed.
Their just plain liars.

[SweetJudith]

11:05 AM on 11/30/2010

You're absolutely right John. They have told untruths since the beginning. I belong to facebook and thousands of us have hit the BLM hard. We've called and faxed the White House for months, but to no avail. Salazar is a Rancher and Obama is believing everything that Salazar tells him. Horrible, just horrific......

[youvebinfarteen]

02:57 AM on 11/13/2010

Bending-over to brush your teeth in the morning. Let the fracking begin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRZ4LQSonXA

[life-of-riley]

07:15 PM on 11/12/2010

Antlers to that. They're crashing into bars on drunken stag nights.

[WesternHunter]

04:47 PM on 11/12/2010

And could we at least have a photo of a mule deer next time?

[OdinsEye]

05:01 PM on 11/12/2010

Bu-bu-bu-but that requires fact checking!

[1differentdrummer]

06:41 AM on 11/13/2010

Whitetails live in eastern Wyoming.

[OdinsEye]

02:30 PM on 11/13/2010

The article is specifically about mulies.

[WesternHunter]

04:46 PM on 11/12/2010

As a hunter, I appreciate how important energy development is to our country. But unless we do it in the right way and in the right places, we’re going to keep losing deer and other big-game species. As Walt Gasson pointed out in the Casper Star Tribune recently, dwindling deer populations shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Like my colleague Walt, this is not my first time at this rodeo. For more than 30 years, we have been warning that uncontrolled gas development would have a negative impact on our wildlife. What we need is balance; gas development with wildlife needs factored in from the start. It’s ironic that as the deer steadily disappear in Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline, industry is filing lawsuits to drill even more – and faster.
http://trib.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_0c14abaa-9fe8-5e2d-b6ec-0bbdf7a81b73.html?mode=story

[MetrointheWoods]

09:38 AM on 11/13/2010

Fellow hunter, I'm going to be your #1 Fan.

[OdinsEye]

02:34 PM on 11/13/2010

No one knows for sure that the drilling is causing the problem. There are a host of other factors which might be causing the reduced numbers of mulies. Those may include, but are not limited to:

1) More white tails
2) Invasions of yellow star thistles
3) Invasions of cheat grass
4) Increased fires
5) CWD
6) Plague
7) Reduced forage due to changing weather

[Whiskeyman09]

01:50 AM on 11/23/2010

No! There can only be one cause! Didn't you read Mead's article--mule deer hate gas wells...or the gas is killing them...or stunting the breeding...or making them relocate...or just you know, really starting to annoy them. It's the all the fault of the Natural Gas business!

[niko73]

12:57 PM on 11/12/2010

I’m wondering why this story about mule deer has morphed into a discussion about frac’ing. Folks, frac’ing is the last aspect of gas development we should be concerned about when it comes to wildlife impacts. If we’re talking about groundwater and human health, then that’s a different story and frac’ing rises to the top of the list of concerns. But frac’ing has little impact to the surface beyond normal gas drilling. These deer are not leaving Pinedale because of frac’ing.

We should be talking about habitat loss, disruption of wildlife species natural cycles, and habitat fragmentation. There is a wealth of scientific studies showing impacts to big game, sage-grouse and other wildlife from human-caused disturbances on the landscape. We need to protect big game during critical times (spring, winter) and require oil and gas companies to limit habitat loss/fragmentation by using a host of best management practices.

I know frac’ing is the new hot topic, but let’s stick to the science here. Regulating frac’ing will have little effect on big game.

[Bike Commuter]

01:07 PM on 11/12/2010

Thank you. That is my take on it as well. The arguments are that fracking contaminates the water table, not the surface. We are talking about several hundred wells plus hundreds of miles each of pipeline and roads.
 
The deer here are migratory, travelling to this area in the winter, and summering elsewhere. They are apparently being displaced from the winter location.

[blood1]

03:44 PM on 11/12/2010

I did a quick google search and I can be wrong, but the recovery method of natural gas in this area appears to be "fracking". Now I don't know if this is the cause, but to say that this activity is not linked to population density should be considered. If you have information that disputes the recovery method, please post it. If there has been little other human activity in the region, can or should we ignore it as an "unintended consequence".

[niko73]

04:50 PM on 11/12/2010

Yes, the vast majority of gas wells in the US are drilled using fracturing. I'm not disputing the extraction method.

However, hydraulic fracturing (frac'ing) happens underground. Here's a nice little instructional video:

http://www.northernoil.com/drilling.php

This is why I say frac'ing is a very important issue relative to groundwater quality. However, any association between frac’ing and surface impacts is a stretch at best. Yes, frac'ing fluids are sometimes held in reserve pits, but reserve pits are commonplace even when wells are not frac'ed. A poster also raised an example of frac'ing fluid being spilled and contaminating the surface. I concede that's a possibility. However, no one has put forth a reasonable argument that what happens to geologic formations thousands of feet underground effects big game in any substantial way.

This is important if you want to limit environment impacts from domestic energy development, which I do. If you want to address impacts to mule deer and other big game species, we should be talking about HABITAT. We should not be deflecting or distracting this important point by talking about frac'ing. You guys can yell about frac'ing all you want, but until we talk about protecting habitat, you're not helping deer at all.

[FabulousAt52]

10:28 AM on 11/12/2010

Watch out East Coast! These gas drilling environment polluting companies are on their way here!