On December 7, 2011 the BLM announced that approximately 30,000 acres of land in the North Fork Valley, including 900 acres of private surface, were nominated for a federal oil and gas lease sale. The announcement sparked overwhelming community opposition.
- Click here to view a timeline of events
- Click here to view our Google Earth video of the lease sale parcels
- Click here to view the Bill Power’s video Stand UpGas Man.
- Click here to watch a video created by Western Priorities called Western Voices – North Fork Valley
- Click here to watch a video created by CU Student Kelly Britchta called Fracking the Fork.
- Click here to view our comments for scoping, the draft environmental assessment, and protest.
- Click here to view the BLM’s comments at a Paonia Town Council Meeting
- Click here to view the North Fork Scrapbook.
The North Fork Valley community has united over a concern about how oil and gas development could affect our environment, our thriving organic farming economy, and our quality of life. Thousands have come to community meetings, written comment letters, and called representatives in Denver and Washington, DC to ask the BLM to defer the lease sale until the 1989 Resource Management Plan is completed.
- Click here to view a gallery of resource maps
- Click here for a contact list for BLM, county, state, and federal representatives
- Click here for an action alert (currently no action alerts)
RMP’s are long-range guidance documents that inform land, wildlife, recreation and resource management decisions. The 1989 RMP which is still informing BLM decisions
on natural gas development does not consider fracking, horizontal drilling, climate
change, organic agriculture, or sensitive wildlife. It is currently under revision and a draft
will be available for public comment in 2013. Click here for information on the RMP.
The Conservation Center has partnered with VOGA, the West Elk AVA, ranchers, realtors, and Citizens for a Healthy Community to develop the North Fork Alternative: a series of management recommendations for oil and gas development on BLM lands that are needed to protect a range of resources in the North Fork Valley. We will ask the BLM to adopt these recommendations into their final Resource Management Plan.Category:
Public Lands