Last modified: Sunday, March 25, 2007 12:45 AM PDT Wildlife groups protest sale of oil and gas leases By SUSAN GALLAGHER - Associated Press HELENA, Mont. — Some leading Montana conservation groups are protesting the planned sale of federal petroleum leases in the Beaverhead River corridor, a magnet for anglers. Montana Trout Unlimited, the Montana Wildlife Federation and others Friday sent the U.S. Bureau of Land Management a letter challenging the agency’s auction set for this Tuesday in Billings. The groups oppose leases involving about 27,000 acres. Anglers find the Beaverhead River extraordinarily appealing and do not spend time and money there ‘‘to fish amongst wells, pads, pipelines, heavy machinery, industrial noise and wastewater ponds,’’ the groups wrote Gene Terland, state director of the BLM. Like the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which earlier sent the BLM a letter against the leasing, the groups say the federal agency did not assess adequately how drilling for oil and gas stands to affect fish and wildlife. The letter Friday follows a formal appeal filed by Montana Trout Unlimited. BLM spokesman Greg Albright said the agency received the letter, but had not analyzed it. The auction will take place as scheduled, Albright said, and bidders will be informed that some of the parcels covered by the sale are under protest. Bids will be taken, but no leases for parcels under protest will be issued before the protest is resolved, he said. The Beaverhead area’s oil-and-gas potential is not considered high, Albright said. All 13 wells drilled since 1990 in Beaverhead County and nearby Madison County have been dry, he said. The BLM is offering Tuesday’s sale because the agency was asked to do so and criteria for holding a sale were satisfied, Albright said. Typically, energy companies do the asking, he said. Besides Trout Unlimited and the Montana Wildlife Federation, signers of the letter include other groups with an interest in outdoor recreation and some businesses catering to anglers.