Wyoming's Wyoming Bureau of Land Management director on Wednesday got an earful from conservationists Wednesday as they defended local BLM efforts to protect a damaged Green Mountain grazing allotment planning process.

The Green Mountain grazing allotment covers about half a million acres between the Red Desert and Jeffrey City, Bairoil and the Sweetwater River. It has been the subject of concerns about drought and overgrazing in recent years.

Wyoming Bureau of Land Management Director Bill Bennett met with a dozen conservationists at the Casper Field Office - part of his "get acquainted" campaign to visit every field office in the state and familiarize himself with local issues.

Harold Schultz, Wyoming Wildlife Federation (WWF) president, warned that in the midst of a severe drought, status quo grazing management of the allotment would inevitably result in "permanent damage that would be bad for wildlife and ranchers."

In contrast, Fremont County Commissioner Crosby Allen alleges that the working group that developed the Green Mountain plan was heavily stacked in favor of anti-grazing environmental activists. "When the working group has 90 members and there's only 20 permittees, the permittees are outnumbered," he said in a separate telephone interview.

Tory Taylor, a WWF board member, gave Bennett a quick summary of the history of the Green Mountain Common Allotment and the set of goals developed by a working group of permittees, conservationists, state and federal agencies. The agreement put a strong emphasis on active herding to lessen grazing impact on riparian areas and pastures alike.

Bottom-line, Taylor and others voiced concerns about new fencing in the allotment, damaged riparian areas, an imbalance between the needs of wildlife, livestock and wild horses, overgrazing, and deteriorating relationships with the permittees.

Schultz said early work and communications within the working group was very positive in the early years, with significant agreement on what all the parties wanted, conservationists and permittees alike.

Schultz blamed "a splinter group" of rancher permittees that started working against the working group a year ago.

"We've got years of work invested," said Schultz. He praised the efforts of Lander Field Office manager Jack Kelly in doing what's best for the allotment.

"We never got everything we wanted, but this process is creating the best balance we've seen among competing interests. We want to see it keep going," Schultz said.

Specific problems raised by conservationists during the meeting included:

- Creation of new raptor perches by the construction of 50 miles of new fencing, leading to predation of mountain plovers and sage grouse where there hadn't been predation before.

- Creation of new water sources in the uplands, to take pressure off of riparian areas, have led to severe overgrazing on upland slopes and hill crests. That, in turn, threatens the survival of wildlife that depend on winter forage.

- Fencing that is not wildlife friendly is blocking migratory routes for antelope and elk. Indeed, WWF members complained that in spite of agreements between Wyoming Game and Fish and Wyoming Department of Transportation, WyDot is installing whatever fencing a permittee wants on BLM lands, alongside state roads.

- Although intensive rotation herding was the key to the entire plan, permittee herding performance was spotty at best and quickly abandoned by others. Permittees who lived in town said they could only herd on weekends. Instead of intensive rotation grazing, cattle weren't managed and wound up eating the forage on future grazing sites.

- Meetings with angry permittees have gotten ugly, with no attempt by the BLM to dampen tempers or outbursts of name calling.

Bennett was asked if he would support Kelly, or whether Kelly was in political trouble. Bennett said that while he has met with ranchers opposed to the Green Mountain plan, he hasn't heard anything about the matter from BLM headquarters in Washington, D.C.

"I need to talk to Jack Kelly and be briefed by him," Bennett said. He said compromise was needed to "bridge the chasm between livestock owners and others."

He agreed to meet further with WWF representatives.

Asked about the above problems, Fremont County Commissioner Allen leveled his own counter charges.

"The BLM has been manipulative and deceptive," he said, stacking the Green Mountain working group with anti-grazing environmentalists and pursuing a predetermined agenda.

In Allen's view, it has been the permittee's concerns that have been slighted by the BLM. He accused Kelly of rejecting a grazing plan submitted by the permittees who broke away from the Green Mountain planning group.

"He can't do that. It has to become part of the file record," Allen said.

Last August, permittees were notified by telephone that they had to get their herds off of the allotments one month early, said Allen. He believes phone notification was done so BLM could pretend that it was a voluntary removal.

Allen defended the ranchers on the herding issue, saying the Green Mountain allotment is huge and that herding is very difficult - thus the need for more fencing.

"The ranchers proposed electric fencing to protect the riparian areas, but the BLM rejected that suggestion," Allen said.

Allen said he believes the forage condition of the allotment is "in good shape," but acknowledges that some areas have been hit harder than others.

"The real objective here is to get rid of cows," he said. Even though the Bush Administration has been in power for two years, Allen said policy changes haven't filtered down to field office level.