County right to suggest WSA release

Dear Editor,

All Wilderness Study Areas in Sweetwater County have been managed by the BLM as de facto Wilderness for 40 years. Real “Wilderness Area” designations can only be done by an act of Congress, so our local WSAs clearly are not real Wilderness.

Sweetwater County’s WSA were created by the BLM between 1976 and 1980 when their “roadless areas” were “inventoried” for potential “wilderness characteristics.” In 1908, the BLM delineated 42 WSAs statewide -- 13 of which are in Sweetwater County.

The Wyoming Wilderness Act was enacted by Congress in 1984 and set aside several U.S. Forest Servi...