Category: News (Older posts)

The public comment period for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) draft plan for conservation of the greater sage grouse in western states is open until June 13. This important species of the sagebrush ecosystem in Colorado and other western states needs a very good science-based conservation plan on public lands to guide future management that will enable its survival. The greater sage grouse has declined in overall populations by 80 percent since 1965 due in large part to habitat loss and degraded quality of habitat. Degraded sagebrush habitat also impacts many other species. Our organization has been involved in greater sage grouse planning processes for several years, beginning by working collaboratively among diverse interests to gain a good plan adopted in 2015 that was followed by proposed weakening of the plan in 2019.  BLM’s draft plan in 2024 is intended to reverse the decline in greater sage grouse populations, ensure that the species continues not to warrant listing under the endangered Species Act as a threatened or endangered species, protect intact sagebrush landscapes, achieve consistency across the species’ range, and prove to become a durable management solution. We thank BLM for this planning process to avoid the necessity of a listing under the Endangered Species Act by targeting conservation efforts around the most important habitat in these states. Our assessment is that it would be best for BLM to select elements from each alternative it has presented in the draft plan (from alternatives 4 and 5 and a few pieces from alternative 3) as no one alternative is adequate. (As to best available science, a crucial factor is an appropriate buffer around leks to protect nesting from infrastructure development.) Please submit your comment to BLM on its portal to urge science-based conservation of the greater sage grouse and sagebrush ecosystem. To post a comment to BLM by June 13, click here.

Thank-you!!  CWF will submit our comment letter before the public comment period closes. 

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On April 18, 2024, the Bureau of Land Management announced its final Public Lands Rule. Its purpose is to elevate conservation so that it is fully considered an essential equal element in the agency’s work to balance multiple uses. CWF and NWF issued a lengthy comment letter to the proposed rule in June of 2023. BLM had received more than 200,000 comments on the draft rule. œThe Public Lands Rule will elevate BLM’s attention to conservation so that it gains equal footing among the array of multiple uses it must manage, said Suzanne O’Neill, executive director of Colorado Wildlife Federation. We particularly applaud the emphasis on ecosystem resilience, intact and connected landscapes, and on setting priorities for restoration of degraded lands.  The Rule provides for restoration and mitigation leases as an important tool to help support health of public lands it manages. The Rule will be published in the Federal Register and then we will post information on the details. Here is the link to BLM’s announcement.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had issued a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for UtilityScale Solar Energy Development (Solar PEIS). This programmatic process for western states is intended to identify lands suitable for siting utility-scale solar development. It is important to ascertain areas that will be available for this development that pose fewer conflicts with lands and waters, fish and wildlife and habitat, cultural and Indigenous resources, and recreational opportunities. CWF participated in development of a Colorado specific comment letter and NWF, TRCP and TU submitted an overall letter that addresses all of the western states included in the planning area.

Here is the link to the Colorado comment letter: Colorado Comment Letter

If you would like a copy of the NWF, TRCP and TU overall letter, please email us at cwfed@coloradowildlife.org.

As the public comment period has closed, the next step will be issuance of a final plan.

Today [April 12] the US Department of the Interior issued its awaited ” Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process Rule.” CWF applauds BLM for today’s oil and gas leasing program reforms because it prioritizes balanced management of public lands – a balance that benefits our rural communities, wildlife habitat they need to survive, recreation, grazing, and responsible energy development. BLM heard the public with more than 215,000 public comments, the vast majority of which supported these reforms. It is fair that energy companies pay reasonable royalties that are in line with what states charge, post reasonable bonds and clean up when they drill on our public lands. All too often taxpayers and government have been stuck with the massive clean-up costs and remediation with wells are simply abandoned or orphaned. Also BLM will focus on leasing in areas with the highest potential for oil and gas development and less conflict with other uses. This is really important to CWF because in the past some areas that have been leased have little or no oil and gas development potential but are squarely located in high priority habitats. We had urged BLM not to lease in such areas – such as severe elk and deer winter range, migration corridors and bighorn sheep winter range and birthing areas.

Here is the press release

 

On April 3, 2024, Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the 20-year mineral withdrawal for the Thompson Divide area of 221,898 acres of public lands managed by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in Colorado. CWF and NWF, in conjunction with the local communities, ranchers, hunters, anglers, other conservationists, and recreationists have long urged withdrawal. The area features exceptional resource values, including some of the last remaining large swaths of ecologically rich and intact mid-elevation habitat in our state. It provides migration corridors for elk, deer and other wildlife, spring calving grounds, native cutthroat trout streams, hunting and fishing (featuring Gold Medal trout waters along the Roaring Fork) and grazing and rangelands that support the local communities. Big game hunting licenses to residents and nonresidents annually direct substantial revenue to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and to local businesses. And clean water is essential to the local communities. The withdrawal is subject to valid existing rights. To achieve permanent protections will require federal legislation. Senator Bennet has worked tirelessly to gain passage of the CORE ACT for years and his efforts are joined by Rep. Neguse and Senator Hickenlooper.

On March 14, 2024 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the beginning of its planning process to strengthen conservation for this bird and its sagebrush home. The Greater sage-grouse is confronting challenges from habitat loss, climate change and invasive species. Certainly the moment for decisive action is now. We all want this conservation effort, one of the country’s largest, to succeed and to enable the Greater sage-grouse to thrive. In 2015 the BLM’s management plans for the Greater sage-grouse were good but since then the situation for the bird and the sagebrush ecosystem has become worse. Throughout the West, annually 1.3 million acres of its habitat are lost, and now is one-half of its original expanse. BLM is working hard to avoid the necessity of a listing under the Endangered Species Act by targeting updated conservation efforts around the most important habitat. CWF will provide technical comments and work hard at each stage of the process.

In Colorado one public meeting is scheduled – in Craig on April 17 6:00-8:00 pm at Northwestern Community College Library, 2801 W. 9th St., Craig CO 81625

There also are virtual meetings on April 9 1:00 – 3:00 pm and April 25 6:00 – 8:00 pm. To register for either virtual meeting here is the link:  Registration for virtual meeting

On March 15, 2024 Governor Polis, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced a new State Wildlife Area purchased March 8: the 1,860-acre Collard Ranch in South Park. It is in partnership with GOCO and Western Rivers Conservancy. CWF applauds this acquisition as it features an elk migration corridor as well as five miles of great fishing along Tarryall Creek. Funding was gained through COGO and the CPW Habitat Stamp program to which hunters and anglers contribute with their purchase of licenses.  It will open to hunters, anglers and others who purchase a State Wildlife Areas pass after the agency completes infrastructure needs.

Check out the full February 2024 Newsletter here.

The annual 2024 bipartisan Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West Poll surveyed the attitudes of voters on matters below. The Poll was conducted by Lori Weigel and Kathryn Hayne of New Bridge Strategy and by Dave Metz of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates. The link to the poll results for the 8 Western states is below.

Here are findings for Colorado:

60% “believe that loss of habitat for fish and wildlife is an extremely or very serious problem.”

87% “support constructing wildlife crossing structures across major highways that intersect with known migration routes.”

82% “think more emphasis should be placed on conserving wildlife migration routes than on new development, roads, ranching, or oil and gas production in those areas.”

64% “support only allowing oil and gas companies the right to drill in areas where there is high likelihood to actually produce oil and gas.”

69% “prefer that leaders place more emphasis on protecting water, air, wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities over maximizing the amount of land available for drilling and mining.”

83% “support a national goal of conserving 30 percent of America’s land and waters by the year 2030.”

84% “support the creation of new national parks, national monuments, national wildlife refuges, and tribal protected areas.”

65% “believe inadequate water supply is a serious problem.”

68% “think that the low level of water in rivers is a serious problem.”

92% “support protecting existing public lands surrounding the Dolores River Canyon in western Colorado.”

57% “believe climate change is an extremely or very serious problem.”

67% “have noticed significant effects from climate change over the past ten years.”

Poll results for the 8 Western states 

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On January 18, 2024, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved its Eastern Colorado Resource Management Plan. Here is the BLM press release. BLM’s last plan for this area was issued in 1996. CWF has worked on gaining a plan for South Park since 2012. CWF is gratified that South Park is treated separately within the overall plan. We firmly believe this is because CWF and partners began working toward this outcome before the formal planning process began. Below is the CWF press release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: January 18, 2024

Contact: Suzanne O’Neill

303-919-3949 

Colorado Wildlife Federation Applauds BLM for Protecting South Park’s Wildlife, Setbacks from Streams in New Resource Management Plan

Bureau of Land Management Releases New and Improved Resource Management Plan to Protect Wildlife Habitat

(Denver, Colorado) – Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Royal Gorge Field Office released its final decision (ROD) on a new Resource Management Plan for the Eastern Colorado planning area (ECRMP). The ROD announces long-awaited improvements for federal lands in the region that will provide decades of protection for important fish, wildlife, water, and recreation resources.

Of note, the plan will help to ensure that South Park – a beautiful high-mountain grassland valley in central Colorado with abundant wildlife is protected from harmful development activities, including poor siting of oil and gas drilling. It is also the source of drinking water for many in Denver and Aurora. For several years, a coalition of local stakeholders, including the Colorado Wildlife Federation, water providers, Park County and others have collaborated with agency officials on a series of specific protections for South Park that BLM’s plan incorporates.

œI am gratified that, after years of collaboration among the local community, government leaders, and other stakeholders, the Bureau of Land Management has taken decisive action to safeguard one of Colorado’s most important landscapes. South Park is home to critical natural and cultural resources, including habitat for elk, pronghorn, deer, bighorn sheep, and greenback cutthroat trout. This new resource management plan will ensure that the big game corridors, sensitive wildlife habitats, and drinking water sources that Coloradans depend on are protected from poor siting of oil and gas drilling for years to come, said Suzanne O’Neill, Executive Director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation. 

œAll of our partners worked diligently and focused on all the resources that are important to both the residents of Park County and those who use and cherish all that it has to offer. From day one we formed a coalition to reach the South Park portion of this Resource Management Plan. Thanks goes out to the Park County Coalition members and also to the BLM staff who spent many hours to balance resource development and resource protection, said Tom Eisenmann, Park County Manager.

The BLM’s decision reflects the coalition’s priorities and improves greatly the previous resource management plan of 1996. The RMP closes 36,700 acres of federal lands and minerals in South Park to future oil and gas leasing that have low, very low, or no oil and gas potential, and includes high-level surface disturbance protections for an additional 73,100 acres to protect gold medal trout streams, public water supplies, state wildlife areas and parks, and other sensitive values. Red Hill was added as a Backcountry Conservation Area (to Rye Slough). Another welcome safeguard is the increased prohibition of surface occupancy from 0.25 mile to 0.33 mile from state wildlife areas, parks, and conservation easements.

œThis plan balances the needs of energy development with conservation of fish and wildlife habitat and represents the culmination of more than eight years of hard work and collaboration with BLM, local communities, and partner organizations. Trout Unlimited is particularly encouraged by oil and gas setbacks from Gold Medal fishing waters and native cutthroat trout streams, which represent some of the best habitat and fishing opportunities in the state of Colorado, said Jay Chancellor, Trout Unlimited Colorado Advocacy Campaigns Manager.

“The attention to the South Park region in the proposed Resource Management Plan is notable. Protecting South Park is an important part of Rocky Mountain Wild’s mission to protect biodiversity in our region. More than 115 rare or imperiled plant and animal species are documented in South Park and nearly 50 of them are considered globally significant,” said Alison Gallensky, Conservation Geographer at Rocky Mountain Wild.

The ECRMP will prohibit surface occupancy and use for oil and gas activities within 1,312 feet of the high-water mark of South Platte River, South and Middle Forks of the South Platte River, water bodies containing or designated for introduction of native cutthroat trout, and within 2,641 feet of Gold Medal streams, rivers, and reservoirs. It also will protect drinking water through surface occupancy prohibitions within 1000 feet for 5 miles upstream of a public supply intake, surface water, and reservoirs. In addition, the plan will prohibit surface occupancy for oil and gas activities within 500 feet of streams (perennial, ephemeral, and intermittent), lakes, reservoirs, springs, playas, wetlands (including fens) or other riparian areas, measured from ordinary high-water mark or within 100-year floodplain, whichever distance is greater.

These provisions are essential for protecting cutthroat trout and other aquatic species, and preventing oil and gas leasing in sensitive areas like big game migration corridors, largely unfragmented winter ranges, and calving grounds, and protecting a substantial portion of drinking water supplies for Denver and Aurora.

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