NEW YORK - The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has received 127 protests on its plans to sell oil and gas leases in a popular hunting and recreation area near Flaming Gorge Reservoir, south of Rock Springs.

BLM has identified 18,049 acres in the Little Mountain area for a lease sale scheduled on Dec. 2, agency spokesman Roger Alexander said Thursday.

Conservationists, hunters and others say they value the area too much to allow oil and gas development. Industry representatives say they are confident they can extract natural gas from the area without much disturbance.

The BLM will review the protests and the agency’s state director in Cheyenne will decide whether the proposed Little Mountain leases will be included in the sale, Alexander said. He said the decision on the parcels likely would be announced one or two days before the sale.

For the same sale, the agency also has proposed leasing 2,960 acres in the Jack Morrow Hills area north of Rock Springs. That drew 13 protests. Conservationists say the Jack Morrow Hills, which is part of the Red Desert, should be protected.

Alexander said the agency is considering a total of 247,645 acres for the sale.

The Little Mountain area drew the most protests of the tracts being considered for sale. Alexander said written protests were received from conservation groups, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and many individuals.

Leases have already been sold in the Little Mountain area, and Devon Energy Corp. has drilled one pilot natural gas well and plans to drill another next year. It also has been conducting a seismic survey to gather data on where best to drill.

Devon spokesman Chip Minty said the company has not determined the scope of any future drilling beyond the two pilot wells and cannot say now whether it will participate in the Dec. 2 BLM lease sale.

However, Devon has determined that if more expansive drilling activity is undertaken, it can be done with comparatively little disturbance because the natural gas is contained in a rock formation that encompasses a large area and can be tapped from anywhere, Minty said.

“So we’re able to avoid historic locations, we’re able to avoid places that are sensitive habitat, and so we’re able to pinpoint where we want to drill because the shale is pervasive,” he said.

And with the use of horizontal drilling, in which drilling rigs sink wells down and then angle out horizontally, Devon can drill multiple wells from one pad, he said.

It all means fewer natural gas well pads will be needed in the Little Mountain area compared to other fields, such as Jonah in Sublette County, where the natural gas deposits are more dispersed and horizontal drilling isn’t as effective and efficient.

“So you look across the landscape and you’re not seeing a horizon dotted with well sites because the well sites that we have will be far more limited than what you might have in the Jonah field,” Minty said.

Minty also noted that Devon has halted its pilot drilling and seismic surveying during hunting season. The seismic survey will cost the company an additional $1 million because of the hunting season stoppage, he said.

The Little Mountain area is prized among locals for its elk, antelope and mule deer hunting. Gov. Dave Freudenthal, himself a hunter, is among those who expressed concern about the energy activity in the area, saying hunting there is “truly a once-in-a-lifetime event.”

“I would … emphasize that the Little Mountain area is considered by many to be Sweetwater County’s crown jewel for wildlife and recreation,” Freudenthal has said. “Any activity in the area must be undertaken with the greatest caution and sensitivity.”

Trout Unlimited has also expressed concern about how energy development will affect fishing in the area.