The Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act would protect 387 miles of rivers and streams in the Snake River drainage under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The Wyoming Range Legacy Act would prohibit further energy leasing on 1.2 million acres in the Wyoming Range, Salt River Range and Commissary Ridge areas south of Jackson Hole and would allow conservation groups to buy and retire existing energy leases.

The omnibus bill, which includes about 150 public-lands bills, is a bipartisan effort and stands a good chance of making it through the Senate, according to Tom Reed, a spokesman for Trout Unlimited and Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range. If it passes in the Senate, the bill would then go to the House of Representatives, where it also has bipartisan support.

“It’s got a good chance,” said Reed, adding that Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming and a wide range of environmental groups and sportsmen groups support the Wyoming Range bill. “It’s the kind of thing that strikes a really good balance between using public lands and setting aside public lands. We’re really happy with the bill. It’s a Wyoming-based solution.”

According to U.S. Geological Survey estimates, the total of accessible oil and gas on the 1.2 million acres would be enough to satisfy the nation’s natural-gas needs for about 25 days and the nation’s oil needs for less than a day.

“Is it worth the permanent degradation of world-class big-game and fisheries habitat for 25 days of natural-gas consumption?” Reed said. “If you go to the Wyoming Range and ask the people who hunt and fish there, you get an emphatic ‘no.’ Wyoming has done its fair share to meet the energy needs of this country. We ought to get this in return.”

Reed said the Wyoming Range bill leaves 44,700 acres of contested leases in the Wyoming Range in the hands of the Forest Service, but conservation groups could buy the leases back if the bill passes.

“We feel like those leases should have never been [sold] in the first place,” he said. “That’s the northeastern gateway to the entire range. It is too important to drill.”

Tom Patricelli, executive director of the Campaign for the Snake Headwaters, has worked on the Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act bill for four years. In addition to environmental benefits of protecting the waterways, he said, the tourism industry would get a boost from the Wild and Scenic Act designation.

“I think now, more than ever, it’s important to pass this bill because it will provide a shot in the arm to Wyoming’s economy,” he said. “The core of support for this bill has always been small-business owners and outfitters.”

Patricelli praised the groups and individuals who have supported the bill, including Barrasso and U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi.

“I think it’s a testament to the incredibly broad-based coalition of business owners, local government officials, outfitters, sportsmen’s groups, landowners and the congressional delegation who have supported this effort from the beginning that the bill is in the promising position that it is today,” he said. “Securing this designation would be a fitting legacy for Craig Thomas, who did so much for Wyoming.”