The Idaho Department of Lands may permit Alta Mesa Services to directionally drill the Smoke Ranch gas well near (and under?) these Payette River Wildlife Management Area lands that the Idaho Department of Fish and Game also leased for drilling, while excluding less toxic and disruptive public recreation that could disturb breeding and nesting resident and migratory birds.

A leaking, liquid-bearing vehicle parks on the dirt road paralleling Highway 52 to the Smoke Ranch well pad that was recently covered with standing water before drilling and that could later mix drilling mud chemicals with the area’s surrounding wetlands, creeks, and rivers.