Page:Land Protection Plan - Wyoming Toad Conservation Area.pdf/9

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is establishing a conservation area in the Laramie basin of southern Wyoming to protect the Wyoming toad. The Wyoming Toad Conservation Area project is located in south-central Albany County, Wyoming, and would encompass three existing National Wildlife Refuges: Bamforth, Hutton Lake, and Mortenson Lake. The Service will work with private landowners to protect up to 43,299 acres, mainly through conservation easements, and up to 10,000 acres in fee-title land purchased from willing sellers only. Successful implementation of the Wyoming Toad Conservation Area will depend on numerous partnerships, including partnerships with The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society chapters, State agencies, Laramie Rivers Conservation District, tribes, and other Federal agencies. We will also work with the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative as part of our landscape-scale conservation efforts.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service policy, both an environmental assessment and a land protection plan have been prepared to analyze the potential effects of establishing the Wyoming Toad Conservation Area in southeastern Wyoming. Both documents are contained within this volume.

The land protection plan describes the important resources and gives direction for evaluating potential habitat conservation areas. The Service has set priorities for land protection based on the needs of the endangered Wyoming toad. The Wyoming Toad Conservation Area would focus on the protection of wetland, floodplain, riparian, and upland areas that provide the year-around habitat required by the toad. The Service has defined highest conservation value areas based on scientific modeling results for the Wyoming toad to establish priorities for where to pursue easements and fee-title acquisition from willing sellers.