Sportsmen and conservation groups say the sudden death of U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas Monday is a huge loss, not just for the people of Wyoming, but also for one of the senator’s latest efforts, a law that would protect the Wyoming Range.

Thomas was expected to introduce legislation that would have limited oil and gas drilling on the Wyoming Range as early as this week. The senator died Monday evening at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. where he was receiving treatment for leukemia.

News of Thomas’ death comes as the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission endorsed a plan by a sportsmen’s group to halt new leases and to buy back existing leases in the area.

Brian O’Donnell, public lands director for Trout Unlimited, said people in his organization are “really shocked and saddened” by the news of the senator’s death. “We’re thinking about his family,” O’Donnell said. “We’re obviously saddened about his loss.”

O’Donnell said Thomas was a leader in recognizing that people in the West care about their fish and wildlife habitat in the Wyoming Range and want to preserve the land as it is now.

“He was a strong advocate for protection of the Wyoming Range and he is going to be sorely missed by sportsmen and citizens of Wyoming,” said O’Donnell. “He was instrumental in reducing the amount of land that was leased and he had just in recent weeks announced his intention to pursue legislation to protect the area.”

O’Donnell said it is too early to tell whether someone else would propose the legislation. Congressional support is likely needed to both stop new leases in the Wyoming Range and to buy back existing leases from oil companies.

Spokesman Cameron Hardy confirmed that the senator was poised to introduce a Wyoming Range bill, but said he isn’t sure what kind of language that bill would have contained. “We never got the Wyoming Range stuff filed,” he said. “We were going to do it this week and probably today.”

Franz Camenzind, executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, said, it is up to members of the Wyoming delegation or Thomas’s colleagues in the Senate to not only carry on the cause, but “to honor the senator’s work on this issue.”

“I hope that momentum can continue,” he said.

Game and Fish board backs lease buy back

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission came out in support of efforts to halt energy development in the Wyoming Range late last week.

Bill Williams, president of the commission, sent a letter to Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey asking him to stop new leases, allow buy backs of existing leases, and invalidate recent leases that he said did not undergo the proper environmental reviews. The plan was proposed by the nonprofit Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range and has received support from Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal and the late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas.

“We fully support responsible oil and gas development in Wyoming, but we also believe there are certainly places in Wyoming where this kind of development does not mesh well with other interests and resources,” Williams said. “With three subspecies of native cutthroat trout, outstanding moose, mule deer, and elk herds and virtually limitless recreational opportunities for our nation’s hard working people, the Wyoming Range is such a place.”

Williams went on to ask that the BLM cancel all Wyoming Range leases offered for sale from December 2005 to August 2006 saying, “We believe that all entities involved in the Wyoming Range need to step back and consider this important mountain range and its natural resource treasures more carefully.”

Trout Unlimited Spokesman Brian O’Donnell, said the Game and Fish Commission brings another level of credibility to the plan.

“I think you’ve already got the leading sportsmen’s groups in the state,” said O’Donnell. “You’ve got now a scientific and a wildlife management credibility that’s brought about by having the [Wyoming Game] Warden’s Association and the Game and Fish Commission.”

“I think it goes to show that the people who love this land best and who use it have come together to see this land protected,” O’Donnell continued. “The Game and Fish Commission is a welcome addition and one that will add momentum to the effort.”

Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance Executive Director Franz Camenzind said he applauded the commission’s efforts. “For the Game and Fish Commission to come out and support that, I think is right on,” he said.