Jonah Interagency Field Office, Pinedale, Wyoming

The Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office (JIO) was created by the Jonah Project Record of Decision (ROD) to provide overall management of field monitoring and mitigation activities, both on- and off-site. To perform these functions, the JIO manages a $24.5 million monitoring and mitigation fund committed by EnCana Oil & Gas (USA), Inc. and BP America Production Company.

The JIO is staffed with a full-time person from each of the following agencies; Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Wyoming Game & Fish Department, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of the Interior/Bureau of Land Management. The BLM staff person manages the office and serves as JIO Project Coordinator.

Oversight of the JIO is provided by an Agency Managers Committee, composed of participating Agency heads or representatives. At a minimum, the committee will meet annually to provide senior-level guidance, evaluate past performance, and review future needs and planned activities.

EnCana’s commitment of $21.5 million, and BP's commitment of $3 million, to a compensatory mitigation fund is divided into $16.5 million for off-site mitigation of wildlife impacts and $8 million for other positive environmental impacts. First year costs of the JIO, including overhead and salaries, will be approximately $600,000 for all agencies, while subsequent years should require less overhead.

All JIO funds are held by the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, established by the State of Wyoming to protect wildlife habitat and other natural resources. No more than 20 percent of the total, or $4.8 million, may be spent each year. Funds will be deposited into the Trust based on requests submitted by the JIO and approved by the Agency Manager's Committee.

The JIO will solicit project proposals from interested parties (individuals, agencies or organizations) on a semi-annual basis. Generally, these projects must meet the spirit of the JIDP EIS - namely mitigating resource impacts associated with the Jonah Field development.

In addition to managing the Jonah Field on-site monitoring and off-site mitigation, the JIO provides adaptive management recommendations to the BLM regarding overall field development. Recommendations will be based on ongoing evaluations of current mitigation effectiveness.

Extensive public outreach will be employed to ensure JIO activities are open and available to interested organizations, groups and/or individuals.