The Bureau of Land Management is beginning their review of 30,000 acres of land in the Hotchkiss, Paonia and Crawford area to be included in the August 2012 oil and gas lease sale. Potential oil and gas development in the North Fork Valley threatens the air, land and water that our local producers require to maintain their livelihood.

Last year a new requirement was added to the BLM process.  All lands must now go through an environmental assessment prior to being included in a lease sale.  We are at the very beginning of this process and the February 9, 2012 deadline is for comments that will guide the environmental assessment of the parcels.  There will be at least one other comment period for public input prior to these parcels actually being included in the official lease sale.  Local North Fork organizations have contacted the BLM official handling questions to verify the process, clarify opportunities for public input and extend the deadline for public comment.

Community meetings regarding the lease sale took place in Hotchkiss, Paonia and Crawford in December and January and they were well-attended.

Here's the BLM letter announcing the lease sale:

Here's the map of the affected area.

This is the BLM site that has info regarding the lease sale.  Scroll down until you see the DOI-BLM-CO-S050-2012-0009 EA entry.  There you will find the legal description of the lease parcels and better maps than the one above.  Here are the maps for the Henderson Creek Area, Paonia Reservoir Area, Hotchkiss Area, Paonia Area and Crawford Area.

For those who have Google Earth, download this kmz file and open it with Google Earth.  Zoom in and scroll around to find the place you live and see how close these parcels are to you.

In 2009 the BLM developed a planning document called the Community Assessment of the Uncompahgre Planning Area. The BLM contracted a community assessment to gather input from counties, cities, towns, and local organizations in the planning area on their views of BLM-managed lands and BLM management practices in order to revise the Resource Management Plan.  This assessment included the North Fork Valley and should be referenced when submitting comments to the BLM.

The assessment provided reasons for why people want to live in their communities:  "The reasons most often cited included recreational opportunities, natural and scenic beauty, proximity to public lands, and the quality of life their communities afford them in terms of a strong sense of community, the availability of quality services, and a family-friendly, small town, safe environment."  Our Slow Food chapter believes that oil and gas production in the designated parcels would counter those reasons.

The United States Department of Agriculture published the North Fork Gunnison Watershed, Rapid Assessment in December 2009. The map on page 9 depicts the North Fork Valley's irrigated agricultural land that covers the property of many agricultural producers. The Farmland Classification map on page 12 shows that the entire North Fork Valley is classified as "farmland of statewide importance", "farmland of unique importance" and "prime farmland if irrigated".  These agricultural lands need to be protected in order to maintain the Valley's economic viability.  Again, oil and gas development in this area will pose a serious threat to the water, air and soil resources needed by the Valley's agricultural producers.

We need to provide sound, effective comments that the BLM would have to address. Here's a template that you can customize and then email to the BLM.