COLORADO ROADLESS FOREST TO BE AUCTIONED TO OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
On August 10, 2006, the Bureau of Land Management plans to lease about 20,000 acres of inventoried roadless lands within the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG), White River, and Manti-La Sal National Forests in Colorado for oil and gas drilling.  Take action to oppose this lease sale!

The Forest Lands At Risk

Leasing these areas for natural gas development would pave the way for road construction and drilling activities that could damage the wildlife, watershed, hunting, fishing, and recreational values found there. In addition, the leasing would violates Forest Service commitments, prejudice the results of the ongoing Colorado Roadless Task Force process, and ignore the inadequacy of current Forest Service plans for petroleum development.

• See the July 20 Letter from 17 conservation groups explaining their opposition to the proposal

• Read their detailed description of the roadless lands at risk

• See also a one-page cheat sheet on the areas

Maps and Photos Tell the Story

• See a map showing the roadless areas to be leased on the GMUG and White River National Forests.

• See another showing how oil and gas leasing and developing are moving rapidly into National Forest backcountry in some of Colorado’s most scenic wildlands on and near the Grand Mesa.

• And see a map of roadless areas proposed for leasing on the Manti-La Sal National Forest and in the nearby Long Canyon Roadless Area on the GMUG.

• See maps displaying the important wildlife habitat of these roadless areas.

the Battlement Mesa roadless area. the Clear Fork roadless area. the Huntsman Ridge roadless area. the Mamm Peak roadless area.

the Roc Creek (Big Mak) roadless area Additional Roc Creek (Big Mak) roadless area photo. Long Canyon roadless area

See what oil and gas drilling is doing to the landscape a few miles north of the Mamm Peak roadless area.

photo of oil & gas development

Businesses, Outfitters, Local Government Leaders, and Conservationists Challenge the Leases in Roadless Areas.

On July 26, outdoor equipment manufacturers, outfitters and more than a dozen conservation groups filed a formal protest with the Bureau of Land Management challenging the roadless leases.

• Read the protest
• See also the press release describing the challenge
• Read the July 27 story from the Aspen Daily News

Based on impacts to these special places, Gunnison County has announced that it will ask BLM to withdraw the parcels in that county from leasing.

• Read a July 20, 2006 story from Crested Butte
• Read the County's official protest of the lease sale

More Media and Opinion.

Read stories about the proposed leases, including:

• August 8 Grand Junction Sentinel story (in which BLM admits that a "broad range" of interests oppose the lease sale)
• June 20, 2006 Aspen Times story about the lease
• June 21 AP story
• June 22 “Land Letter” story
• July 10 Denver Post story about how one outfitter's business has already been harmed by road construction and oil and gas drilling in the Mamm Peak area.
• Aspen Times editorialized against the sale