A consortium of landowners, outfitters and conservation groups filed a protest Wednesday with the federal Bureau of Land Management over the agency’s 180,000-acre oil and lease auction in Colorado in August.
The group is protesting the inclusion of 20,000 roadless acres that lie in three national forests, state wildlife areas and BLM lands proposed for wilderness protection.
The sale threatens watersheds, unspoiled scenic areas and habitat for lynx, black bear, bighorn sheep, elk and Colorado River cutthroat trout, said Sloan Shoemaker, executive director of the Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop.
“Once the boom is over and the glitter wears off, you’re left with a landscape with no wildlife habitat,” Shoemaker said.
All the lands put up for auction have been carefully evaluated as appropriate for oil and gas development, said Melodie Lloyd, spokeswoman for the BLM in western Colorado.
“It’s not done in haste or subjectively. All lands are carefully analyzed and evaluated,” Lloyd said. “With gas over $3 a gallon, mineral development is becoming more and more important, and the BLM is doing its part to assist with the development of the nation’s energy resources, based on a mandate from Congress.”
The protesters are disputing the inclusion of 9,000 acres in the Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre- Gunnison National Forest, more than 4,000 acres in the White River National Forest and 6,000 acres on the Colorado-Utah border in the Manti-La Sal National Forest.
“A huge wave of oil and gas drilling is sweeping over Colorado’s West Slope, and now it’s threatening some of the wildest, most scenic areas of our forests,” said outfitter Jeff Mead, who operates Mamm Peak Outfitters, which guides hunting trips.
The auction is scheduled for Aug. 10.
The BLM’s last quarterly auction in May leased 92,000 acres and netted $2.5 million in revenue, according to the BLM.
The leases come weeks before the Colorado Roadless Area Task Force is scheduled to complete its recommendations to Gov. Bill Owens that could lead to protection of roadless forest tracts from construction and drilling leases, Shoemaker said.
“Because so many people are moving to the West, more of these lease sales are being protested,” the BLM’s Lloyd said.
“It’s a syndrome of ‘not in our backyard,’ but we’re tasked with developing Americans’ mineral estate.”
Staff writer Dave Curtin can be reached at 303-820-1276 or dcurtin@denverpost.com.
