DENVER-
Northwestern Coloradans unhappy with the federal government’s proposal for about 3,000 oil and gas wells in the area are advancing their own plan that would keep development out of some of the wilder spots.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s draft management plan released in February covers 1.3 million acres of federal surface land and 1.9 million acres of federal subsurface minerals in a region that ranges from high desert, to mountains to multicolored badlands.
Under the option recommended by the BLM, the 20-year plan would close about 8.5 percent of the land to oil and gas drilling, up from the current 4 percent. Development, though, would be allowed in areas previously proposed as federal wilderness by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
One of the key areas, environmentalists and residents say, is the 81,000-acre Vermillion Basin, with its sandstone cliffs, petroglyphs and colored rock formations. The BLM said in 2001 that 77,000 of the acres contained “wilderness character.”
The alternative plan proposed by the Friends of Northwest Colorado recommends keeping drilling out of Vermillion Basin and six other sites area residents think should be federal wilderness.
“I can’t see why we can’t preserve it for the coming generations,” said Wes McStay, a Moffat County rancher. “We shouldn’t be so arrogant to think that we can make all the decisions for all time.”
McStay and others said during a teleconference Wednesday that they have collected hundreds of signatures from people endorsing their plan, which will be added to the public comments on the management plan for the BLM’s Little Snake resource area.
“We want to hear from folks. We want to hear from people,” BLM spokesman David Boyd said. “We’ll consider (the plan) with all the comments we get.”
The area is mineral-rich, with deposits of coal, uranium, gold, copper and silver as well as oil and gas. It’s also home to sage grouse, big deer and elk herds and one of the remaining places in Colorado with large contiguous blocks of sagebrush habitat.
A message left after hours at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, a petroleum industry group, was not immediately returned.
Opponents of the BLM’s proposal warn of potential impacts on sage grouse, whose habitat is shrinking throughout the West due to development, and the area’s large elk and deer herds, a big draw for hunters nationwide. The alternative proposal by the community group recommends drilling restrictions during crucial times for wildlife: winter feeding, birthing.
McStay said while on his way to school when he was a boy, he remembers seeing hundreds of sage grouse at a site where the male birds strut to attract mates.
“Now it’s gone. Zero,” McStay said. “It’s very sobering. Will anyone ever see that sight again?”
Some area residents think the more scenic and wild areas should be left alone considering the intense energy development already going on in neighboring Garfield County and other parts of Colorado.
Suzanne Jones of The Wilderness Society said the seven areas proposed as federal wilderness contain only an estimated 6 percent of oil and gas considered capable of being extracted.
“There should be balance in terms of where we drill,” Jones said.
BLM officials have said their plan seeks to reduce effects of drilling by limiting surface disturbance during sensitive times, such as elk calving season or when raptors are nesting and breeding. The scenario backed by the BLM, one of four in the proposal, also includes incentives for oil and gas operators to leave larger blocks of sagebrush undisturbed.
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On the Net:
Bureau of Land Management Little Snake Resource Area Resource Management Plan:
Friends of Northwest Colorado:
