{"id":1254,"date":"2011-11-04T22:07:51","date_gmt":"2011-11-04T22:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2011-11-04T22:07:51","modified_gmt":"2011-11-04T22:07:51","slug":"article-north-park-big-game-habitat-at-risk-groups-argue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/article-north-park-big-game-habitat-at-risk-groups-argue\/","title":{"rendered":"Article: North Park Big Game Habitat at Risk, groups argue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The following article was written by E&E reporter Scott Streater, November 3, 2011 in its Land Letter:<\/p>\n

Niobrara oil boom putting Colorado big game habitat at risk, groups argueA coalition of sporting groups and environmental advocates is pressing the Bureau of<\/p>\n

Land Management to limit oil drilling in a northwest Colorado valley that's so\nbiologically diverse that some have christened it the \"American Serengeti.\"\nThe coalition, known as Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development, is concerned\nabout protecting a remote area at the headwaters of the North Platte River called\nNorth Park -- a pristine, glacier-carved valley amid towering mountain peaks that\nalso happens to sit atop the Niobrara oil formation that stretches along Colorado's\nFront Range into parts of eastern Wyoming and northern New Mexico.\nIn a two-page letter<http:\/\/www.eenews.net\/assets\/2011\/11\/03\/document_ll_01.pdf<\/a>> to\nBLM officials in Colorado, the coalition -- whose members range from the National\nWildlife Federation to the Colorado Bowhunters Association -- wrote that its members\n\"understand that energy development should and will occur. We support responsible\nenergy development.\"\nimage removed<http:\/\/www.eenews.net\/assets\/2011\/11\/03\/map_ll_01a.png<\/a>>\n\nThe Bureau of Land Management is working on a revised resource management plan for\nthe Kremmling Field Office covering 377,900 acres in north-central Colorado --\nincluding the North Park valley in Jackson County -- that includes the resource-rich\nNiobrara oil bed. Click image for larger version. Map courtesy of BLM.\n\nBut it urged BLM State Director Helen Hankins and Dave Stout, manager of the\nagency's Kremmling Field Office in northwest Colorado, to consider implementing\nprotective measures like drilling setbacks from waterways and requirements to use\ndirectional drilling and other techniques that limit the density of well pads and\nreduce impacts to the wildlife habitat that makes the valley a world-class area for\nbig-game hunting and fishing.\n\"Many of the companies now developing the West's energy resources have shown they\nhave the knowledge and capital to use the best and newest technology to avoid and\nreduce the impacts of energy development,\" the letter states. \"Yet even with these\nremarkable technological breakthroughs, the BLM must consider reducing access or\neven preventing drilling, particularly in habitat critical for big game migration,\nwinter survival and fawning and calving areas.\"\nOil and gas industry officials rejected the notion that drilling in the region would\ncause widespread surface disturbance and contribute to water pollution. They noted\nthat modern drilling techniques and practices have minimized or eliminated impacts\non valued landscapes across the West.\nDavid Ludlum, executive director of the West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association\nin Grand Junction, said the industry is concerned that BLM appears to be listening\nto conservation advocates opposed to increased domestic energy production, and he\nblamed the Obama administration.\n\"When you look throughout Colorado, you have a number of BLM resource management\nplans [RMPs] being revised. And one of the trends we're seeing in northwest Colorado\nis all of these documents are becoming more and more restrictive as far as energy\ndevelopment,\" Ludlum said. \"Creating intentional surface restrictions that takes\nthese resources out of play in perpetuity is extremely shortsighted.\"\nManaging multiple uses\nIndeed, the coalition's letter comes as BLM works to finalize a revised resource\nmanagement plan for the Kremmling Field Office in northwest Colorado for the first\ntime since 1984.\nThe revised RMP is expected to cover 377,900 acres of BLM-managed lands and 653,500\nacres of federal mineral estate in all or part of six Colorado counties, including\nJackson County, where North Park Valley is located.\nThe agency released a draft\nRMP<http:\/\/www.blm.gov\/co\/st\/en\/BLM_Programs\/land_use_planning\/rmp\/kfo-gsfo\/kremmling.html<\/a>>\nand draft environmental impact\nstatement<http:\/\/www.blm.gov\/co\/st\/en\/BLM_Programs\/land_use_planning\/rmp\/kfo-gsfo\/kremmling.html<\/a>>\n(EIS) in September, both of which are open for public review and comment through\nJan. 17. A final EIS and proposed plan are expected in the fall of 2012.\nBLM's \"preferred alternative\" in the draft RMP\/EIS is a mixture of conservation\nmeasures and resource uses, including oil and gas drilling.\nDavid Boyd, a BLM spokesman in Silt, Colo., said he is confident the draft plan can\nbe refined to meet both energy development and conservation goals.\n\"I think people should look at all the alternatives we've outlined in the document\nbecause there's a pretty wide range of what's possible out there,\" said Boyd. \"But\neverything in that range of alternatives is still on the table, and what we expect\nwill come out of this plan will be a blend of those varying alternatives.\"\nBut the sporting groups have already decided on the proper course of action, and\nthey are lobbying BLM to select Alternative C in the draft plan, which places \"a\npriority on sustaining and restoring resources and habitats,\" according to the\ndocument.\nThis alternative offers \"serious consideration of habitat protection,\" said Michael\nSaul, a National Wildlife Federation attorney in Boulder, Colo.\nBooming industry\nMeanwhile, the Niobrara formation has become the fastest-growing oil play in\nColorado and one of the new energy development hot spots in the United States.\nThrough mid-September, state regulators had permitted 545 horizontal wells, mostly\nin Weld County at the heart of the Niobrara play, said David Neslin, director of the\nColorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.\nOf those, only about 130 wells have actually been dug, and most are exploratory\nwells, Neslin said.\nIn total, that's less than 20 percent of the 3,500 horizontal well permits issued\nstatewide, he said.\nStill, the drilling activity is springing up so quickly, including around the\nsuburbs of the Denver metropolitan area, that some local leaders have started\nraising concerns about potentially negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts\n(Land Letter<http:\/\/www.eenews.net\/Landletter\/2011\/10\/27\/archive\/13<\/a>>, Oct. 27).\nColorado counties in the path of the Niobrara have attempted to get out front of the\ndrilling and devise their own regulations for hydraulic fracturing -- the\ncontroversial technique of injecting water, sand and chemicals underground at high\npressure to create fissures in tight rock formations that allow oil and gas to flow\nfreely to the surface.\nSome of these counties are writing rules for \"fracking\" that go beyond what is\nalready required under existing regulations\n(Greenwire<http:\/\/www.eenews.net\/Greenwire\/2011\/10\/31\/archive\/12<\/a>>, Oct. 31).\nGiven the heightened concern, the sportsmen's group argues that BLM must be\nproactive in regulating drilling to ensure the North Park valley and the surrounding\narea is protected.\nThe region sits at the head of the North Platte River, which flows north into\nWyoming and helps maintain habitat critical for endangered species, said Barbara\nVasquez, a Walden, Colo., resident working with Trout Unlimited, the Colorado\nWildlife Federation and National Wildlife Federation to protect the region.\nThat's one reason why any drilling activity needs to be done in ways that protect\nsensitive waterways, said Suzanne O'Neill, executive director of the Colorado\nWildlife Federation in Denver.\n\"Current oil and gas rules do not prevent development too close to these riparian\nareas, and in fact, one drilling pad on state land is a stone's throw from the\nhigh-water mark of a well-known tributary,\" she said.\nClick here<http:\/\/www.eenews.net\/assets\/2011\/11\/03\/document_ll_01.pdf<\/a>> to read the\nsportsmen's letter to BLM.\nClick\nhere<http:\/\/www.blm.gov\/co\/st\/en\/BLM_Programs\/land_use_planning\/rmp\/kfo-gsfo\/kremmling.html<\/a>>\nto read the draft RMP and accompanying draft EIS.\nStreater writes from Colorado Springs, Colo.\nWant to read more stories like this?\nClick here<http:\/\/www.eenews.net\/trial\/<\/a>> to start a free trial to E&E -- the best\nway to track policy and markets.\nAbout Land Letter\nLand Letter is written and produced by the staff of E&E Publishing, LLC. For more\nthan 20 years, Land Letter has been the publication professionals have turned to for\nobjective, accurate coverage of natural resource policy issues. From lawsuits over\nnational forest management, to water resource allocation in the West, Land Letter is\nthe source all sides turn to for clear, timely, objective information. Land Letter\npublishes Thursdays at 10 a.m.<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The following article was written by E&E reporter Scott Streater, November 3, 2011 in its Land Letter: Niobrara oil boom putting Colorado big game habitat at risk, groups argueA coalition of sporting groups and environmental advocates is pressing the Bureau of Land Management to limit oil drilling in a northwest Colorado valley that’s so biologically …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"anons"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradowildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}