2.6 Land Use and Recreation 2.6.1 Key Issues the Key Land Use and Recreation Issues Include
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AECOM 2.6-1 2.6 Land Use and Recreation 2.6.1 Key Issues The key land use and recreation issues include: • Compatibility of potential development activities with surrounding land uses; • Potential for development activities to disrupt access to public lands; • Potential adverse effects of development activities on recreation activities in the study region; and • Potential for adverse effects on wilderness, potential wilderness, or wild and scenic river areas from development activities. 2.6.2 Study Area The study area for land use and recreation includes all or portions of Sheridan, Johnson, Campbell, and Converse counties (see Figure 1-1). It includes most of the area administered by the BLM Buffalo Field Office, a portion of the area administered by the BLM Casper Field Office, and a portion of the TBNG, which is administered by the FS (see Figure 1-2). State and private lands also are included in the study area (see Figure 1-3). A somewhat larger perimeter around this primary study area was considered for wilderness issues because of the greater sensitivity (both practical and statutory) that wilderness and potential wilderness areas embody. 2.6.3 Current Conditions 2.6.3.1 Land Use, Access, and Easements Surface Ownership The Wyoming PRB study area is a predominantly rural, wide open landscape. The four counties in the study area had a total population of 97,651 according to the 2010 census, including 46,133 in Campbell County, 13,833 in Converse County, 8,569 in Johnson County, and 29,116 in Sheridan County. Gillette is the largest city in the Wyoming PRB study area with 29,087 people. Sheridan (17,444), Buffalo (4,585), and Wright (1,807) followed in order of population. Well over two-thirds of Converse County’s population lives in the southern half of the county, outside the Wyoming PRB study area. The total population within the Wyoming PRB study area is less than 88,500, for an average population density of less than one person per 80 acres. A substantial majority of the land surface in the basin is privately owned, perhaps showing a greater historical kinship with the Dakotas and Nebraska than with western Wyoming or other western states where federal lands predominate (see Figure 1-3). A total of 78 percent of the surface ownership in the Wyoming PRB study area is privately owned (Table 2.6-1). Approximately 14 percent is federal, with the BLM managing approximately 11 percent and the FS managing approximately 3 percent. The FS land is in the TBNG, administered by the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. The State of Wyoming owns approximately 8 percent of the land in the Wyoming PRB study area, most of which is State Trust land provided to the state by the federal government at the time of statehood to support “common schools” (public schools) and a limited number of other public facilities. The Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments administers state lands. As shown in Figure 1-3, federal land in the Wyoming PRB study area does not occur in large, contiguous parcels. The TBNG is mainly in two clusters, one scattered through a 20-mile by 20-mile area in northeastern Campbell County and the second, a much larger cluster, in southeastern Campbell County and northeastern Converse County (also extending into Weston County to the east). The BLM surface lands also are primarily located in two areas, mostly in Johnson County. The first is in the southwest corner of the county. The second follows the main stem of the Powder River from a few miles Task 1D Report December 2012 AECOM 2.6-2 north of Sussex to approximately the Sheridan County line where it diverts northeasterly toward Spotted Horse on U. S. Highway 14/16. Table 2.6-1 Surface Ownership Ownership Acres Percent BLM 870,448 11.0 FS 249,939 3.2 Other Federal 4,851 0.1 State of Wyoming 614,987 7.8 Private 6,170,348 78.0 Water 2,148 <0.1 Total 7,912,721 100.0 Source: BLM 2012b. The general pattern of state-owned lands throughout the Wyoming PRB study area typically includes Sections 16 and 36 of almost every township. This follows a standard pattern for State Trust lands in most of the West. In addition, there are larger blocks of state land located primarily in Johnson and Sheridan counties, both north and south of Buffalo (see Figure 1-3). Minerals Ownership In contrast to the surface ownership, mineral rights in much of the Wyoming PRB study area are in “split-estates,” meaning the surface owner is different from the owner of the mineral rights. In much of the study area, the surface is privately owned, but the mineral rights are at least partly federally owned. Although the federal government owns all mineral rights on large portions of the Wyoming PRB study area, there also are sizable areas where it owns only the coal rights and somewhat smaller areas where it owns only oil and gas rights (Figure 2.6-1). There are a few small areas where the federal government owns coal or oil and gas rights but no others, and areas where it owns other rights but not coal or oil and gas. Other rights include locatable minerals, such as uranium and bentonite, and salable minerals, such as sand and gravel. Generally, where the FS or the BLM manages the surface estate, the federal government also owns all of the mineral rights. The mineral ownership patterns generally are much more complex where the surface rights are privately owned. The State of Wyoming typically owns the mineral rights for a majority of the State Trust lands; although, there also are areas where the federal government owns mineral rights on state lands. There are areas scattered throughout the Wyoming PRB study area where the federal government owns no mineral rights. The largest of these is in western Sheridan County and northwestern Johnson County, from the Bighorn National Forest boundary eastward beyond I-90 and I-25. There is a similar large area in a broad swath along I-25 across Converse County and a smaller area along the eastern boundary of Campbell County, approximately 10 miles east of Gillette. There are notable, although generally narrow, strips of land along several major creeks in the study area where the mineral estate is not owned by the federal government. Where oil and gas rights are federally owned (Figure 2.6-1) and the surface is privately owned, the gas developer is required to obtain an agreement with the surface owner regarding access to the property (43 CFR Part 3814). In these areas, a surface use agreement may be required by the surface owner (BLM 2003). Task 1D Report December 2012 2.6-3 X:\0Projects\BLM_PRB_Phase_II_60143410\Figures\DOC\650_Task_1D_Report\Figure_2_6-1_MineralOwner_20121114.mxd R89W R88W R87W R86W R85W R84W R83W R82W R81W R80W R79W R78W R77W R76W R75W R74W R73W R72W R71W R70W R69W T58N Bitter Cr. T58N Prairie T57N Dog Cr. T57N SHERIDAN Spotted Horse Cr. T56N Sheridan COUNTY T56N Little Powder River Clear Cr. Burlington T55N Northern RR. Big Goose Cr. T55N 14/16 T54N Middle Prong T54N Little Goose Cr. 14 Wild Horse Cr. Wild Cat Cr. Cottonwood Cr. T53N T53N Wild Horse Cr. Piney Cr. T52N T52N Rock Cr. NorthernBurlington RR. T51N 16 Crazy Woman Cr. T51N Buffalo T50N Gillette T50N Powder River North Fork Crazy Woman Cr. T49N T49N I-90 T48N T48N Fourmile Cr. CAMPBELL Four Horse Cr. Trabing Dry Cr. COUNTY T47N Timber Cr. T47N Pumpkin Cr. 59 T46N JOHNSON T46N South Fork COUNTY T45N Crazy Woman Cr. Belle Fourche River T45N Bacon Cr. I-25 Union Red Fork North Fork Pacific RR. T44N Powder River Powder River Dry Fork Powder River Black Thunder Cr. T44N Bear Trap Cr. Wright Kaycee T43N T43N Little Middle Fork Thunder Cr. Salt Cr. Buffalo Cr.Powder River Porcupine Cr. T42N T42N 387 T41N T41N South Fork Powder River R85W R84W R83W R82W R81W R80W R79W R78W R77W Antelope Cr. T40N T40N T39N T39N CONVERSE COUNTY T38N T38N Dry Cr. Dry Fork Cheyenne River T37N T37N 59 T36N T36N Sage Cr. Legend T35N T35N All Minerals Coal R76W R75W R74W R73W R72W R71W R70W R69W Oil, Gas Oil, Gas, Coal Oil, Gas, Coal, Potassium, Sodium Other County WYOMING River or Stream Railroad Federal MineralFederal Ownership PowderRiver Basin CoalReview Figure 2.6-1 Figure 0 5 10 15 Miles 0 5 10 15 Kilometers Source: BLM 2012b. 11/14/2012 AECOM 2.6-4 Surface use for coal and other minerals is somewhat more problematic, because these minerals in the PRB typically are recovered via surface mining, which eliminates pre-established or other non-mining use of the surface estate for the period from the beginning of active mining through completion of successful reclamation. Under these circumstances, the owner of the minerals must reach an agreement with the surface owner to compensate him/her for the productive value of the surface land for the duration of its use for mining. Leasing of federally owned coal may be delayed until an agreement is reached; although generally, the mineral resource in the PRB is much more valuable than the surface land to the degree that a coal developer is able to purchase the surface rights at a price that is attractive to the surface owner (Janssen 2004). Existing Land Use Patterns The predominant use of land is grazing, as dictated by the high desert climate and soil conditions in the Wyoming PRB study area. Nevertheless, there is a range of other productive land uses present.