by Mike Koshmrl, WyoFile
A federal auction scheduled for June proposes leasing tracts of all three protected Wyoming migration corridors to oil and gas drilling, and it also opens the door to rigs within a now-unprotected pronghorn corridor that’s eyed for protections of its own.
The potential for industrial incursion into habitats that prized ungulate populations depend on to reach their seasonal ranges in the Platte, Little Snake and Green River basins comes via the Bureau of Land Management’s lease sale of more than 250,000 acres in Wyoming. It’s a sale that’s now in the early “scoping” phase and could still change, but what’s been proposed is to auction more than five dozen parcels totalling 88,000 acres that overlap the state’s first three deer migration corridors and its in-the-works pronghorn corridor.
The possibility of well pads and industrial infrastructure on the horizon within Wyoming’s most famous migration paths has environmental advocacy groups calling on the BLM to make responsible leasing decisions.
“We simply can’t lease and allow development in our big game migration corridors if we want our kids and grandkids to have the same hunting and wildlife viewing opportunities that we’ve enjoyed,” said Julia Stuble, the Wyoming state director for The Wilderness Society.
The designated Sublette Mule Deer Migration Corridor, in brown, is intersected by 32 parcels totaling 38,727 acres that the Bureau of Land Management is proposing to auction during a June oil and gas lease sale. (Wyoming Outdoor Council)
That’s a premise Steve Degenfelder, a landman for Kirkwood Oil and Gas, disagrees with. He’s seeking to acquire at-issue leases in the Green River Basin that intersect with migration paths used by the Sublette herds of pronghorn and mule deer, but says he intends to use horizontal drilling and existing roads to minimize damage to the corridors.
“Wildlife folks can have their cake and eat it, too,” Degenfelder said. “They can have the activity occur far from these critical spaces and still enjoy the tax revenue.”
Industry assurances and the potential for lease stipulations down the road haven’t placated groups that lobby on behalf of wildlife and wild places. The sheer number of conflicts with valuable habitat in the lease sale is of “great concern,” and it’s unclear whether BLM will listen to those concerns at a time when the federal government is shut down, said Alec Underwood, conservation director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council.
“While there are places that are appropriate for oil and gas development, potentially fracturing our iconic big game migration corridors is an affront to all those who value Wyoming’s wildlife,” Underwood said.
The identified Sublette Pronghorn Migration Corridor, in orange, is intersected by 31 parcels totaling 49,329 acres that the Bureau of Land Management is proposing to auction during a June oil and gas lease sale. (Wyoming Outdoor Council)
The Bureau of Land Management’s Wyoming staff were unreachable for an interview. Because of the lapse in appropriations, the agency is only responding to “urgent” media inquiries related to visitor access, safety and essential operations, according to Kristen Peters, a U.S. Department of Interior spokeswoman.
Underwood’s colleagues at the Wyoming Outdoor Council completed an analysis and compiled maps that show where and how many parcels intersect with designated, identified and known-to-science migration paths.
The breakdown shows:
- In designated migration paths (those protected by Wyoming’s policy), there are 32 parcels in the lease sale that overlap corridors. Collectively, those parcels encompass 38,727 acres. There are seven parcels totaling 13,749 acres in the Sublette Mule Deer Corridor (AKA, Red Desert to Hoback), three parcels totaling 4,293 acres in the Platte Valley Mule Deer Corridor and 22 parcels totaling 20,685 acres in the Baggs Mule Deer Corridor.
- There are 31 parcels totaling 49,329 acres in the Sublette Pronghorn Corridor, which has been “identified” by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and is in the process of being assessed for designation by Gov. Mark Gordon. Notably, significant overlap occurs in a disputed portion of the pronghorn corridor located east of Farson.
- The Wyoming Outdoor Council also analyzed parcels in the lease sale that bisected migration routes mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey. There were 23 parcels totaling 29,775 acres that overlapped the Shirley Basin Pronghorn migration (12 parcels, 11,896 acres), Elk Mountain pronghorn migration (five parcels, 6,725 acres) and the Wyoming Range mule deer migration (six parcels, 11,154 acres).
In total, BLM’s second-quarter 2026 sale proposes leasing roughly triple the acreage of what’s slated to be offered during upcoming auctions in December and March. The sharp increase in potentially leased ground comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s pledge of “energy dominance” — he even declared October to be “National Energy Dominance Month.”
The scientifically mapped Wyoming Range Mule Deer Herd’s migration corridor, in purple, is intersected by six parcels totaling 11,154 acres that the Bureau of Land Management is proposing to auction during a June oil and gas lease sale. (Wyoming Outdoor Council)
The federal budget reconciliation bill, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” by Trump, also requires land managers to make more ground available to oil and gas drilling — at least 50% of all public land nominated by industry, according to the Center for Western Priorities.
Degenfelder, at Kirkwood Oil and Gas, said that many of the parcels he’s interested in leasing in the Green River Basin, including in the migration corridors, were originally nominated via an “expression of interest” he submitted back in 2021, during the Biden administration. The BLM considered offering some of those leases in 2023, but they never materialized in an auction, he said.
“The Rock Springs Field Office authorized them to be offered, and then the state office reversed that,” Degenfelder said.
The designated Baggs Mule Deer Migration Corridor, in brown, is intersected by 22 parcels totaling 20,685 acres that the Bureau of Land Management is proposing to auction during a June oil and gas lease sale. (Wyoming Outdoor Council)
Stuble, at The Wilderness Society, said federal land managers should pull back leases that are in the migration corridor. The BLM, she argued, has a “statutory obligation” to inventory the migration routes and design management around them.
“That has not happened for the vast majority of the corridors that are in this lease sale,” Stuble said. “The bottom line for us is allowing gas rigs and well pads in places where the migrating animals forage and rest puts those herds at risk.”
If the parcels in migration paths do go forward to auction, there’s a likelihood that at least the 32 tracts in designated routes will be affixed with a migration stipulation. Language would be added at the request of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, according to Will Schultz, the agency’s habitat protection supervisor.
“The lessee or designated operator will be required to work with the BLM and state of Wyoming to take reasonable measures to maintain corridor functionality,” Schultz said.
The designated Platte Valley Mule Deer Migration Corridor, in brown, is intersected by three parcels, totaling 4,293 acres, that the Bureau of Land Management is proposing to auction during a June oil and gas lease sale. (Wyoming Outdoor Council)
Schultz is in the process of compiling Game and Fish’s comment letter in response to the BLM lease sale. The state’s migration policy, he said, does not allow for stipulations in the “identified” corridors — like the Sublette Pronghorn herd’s migration.
“There aren’t the same protections that are afforded to designated routes,” Schultz said. “However … it allows for us to have that opportunity to have a discussion with the operator on voluntary measures that they can take.”
In an earlier era, Wyoming Game and Fish sought complete lease deferrals when more than 90% of a parcel overlapped with a migration corridor. During a lease sale in the first Trump administration, for example, BLM pulled more than 7,500 acres in the Sublette Mule Deer Migration Corridor path from an auction at the request of the agency. Still, 32 parcels totaling nearly 13,000 acres that overlapped the corridor went to auction and they generated lukewarm interest: Bids topped out at $9 an acre, far below the statewide average of $202 an acre during the 2018 sale.
With Wyoming’s revamped migration policy now in place, the state no longer requests complete deferrals, Schultz said.
The Bureau of Land Management is accepting feedback on its 2026 second-quarter oil and gas lease sale for Wyoming through Nov. 17. Public comments can be submitted through an online portal available at ePlanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2040967/570.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
