# Wyoming Public Lands Initiative Act of 2023
This bill redesignates approximately 800,000 acres of public lands in Wyoming currently held as wilderness study areas, creating new wilderness areas, special management areas, and motorized recreation zones. The legislation affects five Wyoming counties (Carbon, Fremont, Natrona, Johnson, Campbell, Washakie, and Hot Springs) and requires the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service to manage these lands according to new designations and restrictions.
The bill designates several new wilderness areas, including the Encampment River Canyon and Prospect Mountain wilderness areas in Carbon County, and the Upper and Lower Sweetwater Canyon wilderness areas in Fremont and Natrona counties. These wilderness areas receive full protection under the Wilderness Act but allow continued grazing where it existed before enactment and authorize wildfire suppression activities. Additionally, the bill creates special management areas in various counties that restrict activities like commercial timber harvesting and mining while permitting livestock grazing and some motorized vehicle use for specific purposes like emergency response and infrastructure maintenance.
The bill also establishes the Dubois Motorized Recreation Area to maximize off-road vehicle use and releases several wilderness study areas from protected status, allowing them to be managed for other uses including mineral leasing accessed through directional drilling from outside the areas. Federal agencies must complete travel management plans and fire suppression reviews within 180 days to two years of enactment. The legislation contains no new direct funding allocations but requires agencies to implement these management changes within existing budgets.
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