Management Practices:

Wyoming Coal Bed Methane Research

The encroachment of Coal-Bed Methane (CBM) mining into the Hanging Woman Basin of Padlock Ranch, located on the border of Montana and Wyoming, triggered a partnership between Padlock Ranch, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, and The Nature Conservancy. As part of this partnership, in 2002, we established an ongoing monitoring project that evaluates the effects of CBM mining, if any, on the distribution and abundance of birds of Padlock Ranch. To date there are virtually no studies investigating the direct or indirect effects that CBM mining may have on birds and their associated habitats.

     

(http://www.northernplains.org/ourwork/
doingitright/methanephotos)