LANDER - The federal government released its final proposal for a long-term management plan for the Pinedale region on Friday, and it immediately received cautious praise from at least one conservation organization.

A previous draft version of the plan, released in 2007, was highly controversial and was blasted with strong criticism from Gov. Dave Freudenthal, area residents and environmentalists. It also received about 100,000 public comments.

The final proposal contains significant changes, a spokesman for the Wilderness Society said Friday, which should go a long way toward protecting some "crucial" wildlife habitat.

The most notable revision, according to Bureau of Land Management officials as well as analysts with the Wilderness Society, is that now 440,000 acres will be taken off the table for oil and gas leasing. It's a nearly threefold increase from the 157,000 acres protected in the previous version of the plan.

The BLM expects to use this new plan for at least the next 20 to 25 years, said Chuck Otto, field manager of the Pinedale Field Office.

It is an overarching document - consisting of nearly 1,000 pages - intended to guide oil and gas development, livestock grazing and other activities on nearly 1 million acres of surface area and 1.2 million acres of mineral resources in the Upper Green River Valley.

The management plan will also influence the development of areas that have already undergone review, including the Pinedale Anticline and Jonah natural gas fields.

Jared White, spokesman for the Wilderness Society, was guardedly optimistic about the plan Friday afternoon, with the caveat that his organization hadn't yet had enough time to digest the entire, mammoth manuscript.

"The BLM has clearly heard the public outcry for truly balanced management, given the intense level of oil and gas development we have seen in recent years," White said. "Some areas of crucial importance to mule deer, pronghorn and sage grouse, that the public has fought for, have been preserved from oil and gas leasing for the foreseeable future, and we appreciate that."

There is, however, still a strong bias toward oil and gas development, White said, at the expense of Wyoming's wildlife and public health. And his group remains concerned that this plan doesn't go far enough to address impacts from oil and gas drilling on air and water quality.

"The bottom line is, it's hardly perfect. But we did get a lot of the things we've been asking for as far as habitat protection," he said, "so it's a step in the right direction."

The BLM published the document just in time for the weekend, so state officials, including the governor, will not comment on the plan until sometime next week, if not later.

"We're reviewing it," said Cara Eastwood, Freudenthal's press secretary. "It's such a substantial document; it's going to take some time."

Vern Stelter, habitat protection supervisor for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said his agency, also, will need more time to review the plan before commenting.

Back in 2007, Freudenthal was critical of the BLM's draft version, and he pushed the agency to make sure in its revision to include "long-term protection(s) of resources other than oil and gas development." And he said he was "not confident" the preferred alternative would assure such an outcome.

Kellie Roadifer, the BLM's planning and environmental coordinator for the Pinedale Field Office, said the final proposal addresses some of Freudenthal's specific concerns. It ensures, for example, that the Ryegrass/Cottonwood area, mentioned specifically by the governor, will now be unavailable for leasing.

And the west side of the mesa outside of Pinedale will also now be unavailable for oil and gas drilling, Roadifer said, which was important to the governor and many others because it is a crucial migration corridor for mule deer and antelope.

In another notable revision, the final plan will also require that people on off-highway vehicles use only existing roads and trails, Roadifer said.

Freudenthal had pushed the BLM in 2007 to protect the Fontenelle Elk Winter Range, but the agency did not include that area in the acreage unavailable to oil and gas leasing, she said.

Another major concern, especially on the part of area residents, has been the region's ongoing problems with air quality, including high winter ozone levels, primarily from oil and gas development on the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline gas fields.

Otto said under the new management plan the air quality in the Pinedale area is probably "at its worst level right now." But, he said, it will get better fairly quickly, as the old drilling rig equipment is replaced by more efficient, lower-emitting engines.

"The old way of doing things is not going to be acceptable in the future," Otto said.

The BLM will accept written protests to its plan for 30 days from people who have participated in the drafting process. After considering the protests, the agency plans to publish its final decision before the end of this year.

Contact Chris Merrill at (307) 267-6722 or chris.merrill@trib.com.