Interior Department protects bighorn sheep range in Wyoming

JACKSON — Federal mineral leasing has drastically increased under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, but the former Montana congressman has set aside one swath of Wyoming for the good of bighorn sheep.

Last week Zinke’s office announced plans to renew a mineral withdrawal of 1,431 acres of winter range used by the significant but struggling Whiskey Mountain Bighorn Sheep Herd.

“The Trump administration is serious about conservation, and we are backing up our words with action,” Zinke said in a statement. “I’ve always said there are places where it is appropriate to mine and places it is not. The Whiskey Mountain range is a good example.”

Interior Secretary Zinke’s policies routinely earn the scorn of environmentalists who bemoan a prioritization of industrial development over land and wildlife protection. One example: Four days after Zinke’s Whiskey Mountain announcement a coalition of conservation groups sued Zinke’s department over plans to lease 2 million acres of core sage grouse habitat to oil and gas companies.

Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/interior-department-protects-bighorn-sheep-range-in-wyoming/article_4ee42cb7-6a7b-5536-8ac5-96265a588739.html