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CHEYENNE — A request that a Wyoming panel designate a piece of the Black Hills National Forest as "very rare and uncommon" has raised questions about the state's authority to influence what happens on federal land.
The legal questions could influence whether any mining takes place on that particular piece of forest where gold is one of the minerals known to be present. Conservationists want to see forest land protected, while mining companies want to be able to develop their mineral rights.
The Sand Creek area in Crook County is located on U.S. Forest Service land along the border with South Dakota.
The Wyoming Environmental Quality Council earlier this week rejected a petition by a conservation group to designate the area as "very rare and uncommon" because the council wanted more information. But Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance plans to refile its petition soon with new information.
The designation could be used to stop some mining activities.
Besides seeking more information about the petition, members of the council raised questions about issuing such designations on federal land. Biodiversity says the council has the authority, mining companies contend it doesn't, and the federal government hasn't taken a stand either way.
"We don't really have a position on the whole thing," Elizabeth Krueger, resource planner with the Forest Service, said Friday. "As far as we know it doesn't affect surface management."
Bronco Creek Exploration Inc., an exploration company based in Tucson, Ariz., that owns mineral rights in Sand Creek, contends the state panel has no authority to issue such a designation on federal land.
"One of the big issues that we see in this particular case is that these are federal lands and we have federal mining claims," said Eric Jensen, vice president and senior geologist with Bronco Creek. "Our property interest up here is a federally mandated right to develop this property under federal law."
If the state denied a mining permit because of the 'very rare and uncommon' designation, it would violate Bronco Creek's property rights, Jensen said.
Petition supporters say the designation only pertains to state-issued permits and doesn't affect federal authority.
"In fact the 'very rare and uncommon' designation simply limits whether and what kind of mining permits get issued by the state," said Erik Molvar, executive director of the conservation alliance. "So they actually don't have any impact on a federal agency's management of the land because they deal strictly with a procedure, the mining permitting process, that is the state's prerogative to regulate."
