| Oil and gas development plays a prominent role in much of the western landscape and is integral to many local and regional economies.
Over the past decade, the federal government has leased nearly 27 million acres of your public land for oil and gas development. But, fossil fuels are not the only resources present on public lands. Many of the most valuable fish, wildlife and water resources in the West are on public lands that belong to all of us.
Without sound and responsible policies in place, oil and gas development on public lands risks permanent damage to our important fish, wildlife and water resources, and threatens a way of life that westerners have known for generations.
On May 21-24 at the JacksonLake Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyo, the Responsible Energy Development Symposium represents a new approach to public land management.
This symposium has brought together the leading fish and wildlife scientists and natural resource professionals—along with hunters and anglers from across the West—to develop a set of specific recommendations for policies, practices and procedures that conserve and restore fish, wildlife and water resources while facilitating responsible energy development on public lands.
This event, hosted by Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development, is a grassroots, hunter-and-angler driven effort at reforming how oil and gas development occurs on public lands. We are leading the effort to develop common sense, science-based solutions that balance fossil fuels with habitat protection and the western way of life.
AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS
Keynote speakers, panel sessions and a series of concurrent breakout sessions will address all aspects of oil and gas development on public lands. Some of the speakers include:
Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal John Turner – formerly Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, International Environments and Scientific Affairs; President and CEO The Conservation Fund; Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; President Wyoming State Senate. Mike Dombeck – formerly Chief U.S. Forest Service and Director U.S. Bureau of Land Management John Baughman – formerly Executive Director Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies; Director Wyoming Game and Fish Department Joanna Prukop, Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Patty Beneke, Senior Council for the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Jim Martin, Conservation Director for the Berkley Conservation Institute Tony Dean, Host and Producer of Tony Dean Outdoors
You can learn more about the Responsible Energy Development Symposium, view the complete agenda, and register to attend at http://www.sportsmen4responsibleenergy.org/symposium.html.
For more information, contact Austin Williams at (307) 332-7700 x11 or awilliams@tu.org
Austin Williams is Trout Unlimited's Rocky Mountain Energy Coordinator
based in Lander, Wyo. He represents the Sportsmen for Responsible
Energy Development campaign in Wyoming and is organizing the Responsible
Energy Development Symposium.
Williams earned a J.D. from the University
of Oregon School of Law and, prior to entering the legal profession,
spent several years researching salmon and steelhead for the U.S. Forest
Service in southeast Alaska and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in
northern Idaho. Williams is an avid fisherman and spends his free time
chasing native and wild trout throughout Wyoming.
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