March 19, 2018

Your Public comment is needed!

Please also send a copy of your letter to SLVEC at:

It has come to our attention that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), through the Royal Gorge Field office, are now in the process of taking public comment, for the following nominated parcels regarding a potential oil and gas lease sale:

• In Total, 11 parcels/18,358 acres in Huerfano County (#s 8080, 8081, 8082, 8083, 8084,

8085, 8086, 8087, 8088, 8089, 8090). These nominated parcels are located on the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, within the Wet Mountain Valley. Some of these parcels are bordering designated Wilderness and are also located within a few miles of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve boundaries.

1st Comment deadline coming up: Friday, April 6th, 2018

Address your letter to: 

Royal Gorge Field Office
Attn: September 2018 Lease Sale
3028 E. Main St.
Cañon City, CO 81212
via email:

Voice your concerns NOW.

The BLM is currently in the midst of a Thirty-day public review and comment period for a potential lease sale and a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) will be published on Thursday, March 22nd. Your comments will be analyzed and incorporated into the final environmental analysis “as appropriate.” Final announcement of sale is scheduled to take place Friday, July 20th, followed by another 10-day protest period.

Some Major Concerns:

Sangre de Cristo Wilderness and Adjacent Forest Service Roadless Lands:

Parcel 8086 is directly adjacent to the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness.  All of the parcels in Huerfano County (parcels 8080, 8081, 8082, 8083, 8084, 8085, 8086, 8087, 8088, 8089, 8089, 8090) are within 6 ½ or fewer miles of the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. In addition, parcel 8080 is directly adjacent to the Colorado Roadless Rule upper-tier roadless area named Sangre de Cristo: Medano Pass to Carbonate Mountain. There is concern that leasing parcels adjacent to or near these areas could impact air and water quality within these areas and impact the naturalness and opportunities for solitude in these areas or have other impacts.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve:

All of the parcels in Huerfano County (parcels 8080, 8081, 8082, 8083, 8084, 8085, 8086, 8087, 8088, 8089, 8089, 8090) are less than 8 miles from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Portions of parcel 8086 are less than 1 mile from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. We are concerned that leasing parcels adjacent to or near these areas could impact park resources and values, including, but not limited to, sensitive species like the population of dwarfed short horned lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) occurring on top of Mosca Pass near the proposed lease area.

• The National Park Service’s Air Resources Division air quality trends monitor for 2015 (the most recent year for which monitoring data is available) assigned Great Sand Dunes National Park the highest level of air quality concern for ozone as well as Sulphur and nitrogen indicators.

Dark Night Skies and Natural Sounds

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is highly valued for its near-pristine qualities of nighttime darkness, and its natural soundscapes. These two characteristics can especially be experienced in the backcountry of the preserve, the portion of the park which is closest to the proposed parcels of concern in Huerfano County.

The NPS’ Natural Sounds Program has conducted acoustic monitoring in the park and found that Great Sand Dunes to have one of the lowest levels of measurable ambient noise in the national park system. This natural quiet was partly the basis for a 2009 U.S. District Court decision preventing oil and gas drilling in the Baca Wildlife Preserve managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is adjacent to the park on the west side of the dune fields. (See: Turina, “Protecting the Acoustic Conditions at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve,” NPS Park Science, 2015, available online: https://www.nature.nps.gov/ParkScience/index.cfm?ArticleID=379)

Big Game:

Parcels 8080, 8081, 8082, 8083, 8084, 8085, 8086, 8087, 8088, 8089, 8089, 8090, are all within or overlap very important areas for elk and mule deer consisting of winter concentration areas, severe winter range, and production areas (calving and fawning areas). Parcels 8080, 8081, 8082, 8083, 8084, 8085, 8086, 8087, 8088, 8089, 8089, 8090, which comprise all the parcels in Huerfano County, are in areas that are especially sensitive because all of the parcels either overlap production and important winter areas for elk or important areas for both elk and mule deer. Parcels 8081 and 8082 overlap production and important winter areas for elk and mule deer severe winter range. Parcels 8080, 8081, 8082, 8083, 8084, 8086, 8088, 8089, 8089, 8090 overlap areas identified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as Sensitive Wildlife Habitat. Parcel 8086 overlaps a significant portion of land set aside as a conservation easement through the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

• The National Park Service, in partnership with the U. S. Forest Service is working to control the spread of white pine blister rust, a fungus that infects Limber and Bristlecone Pines. These species of trees occur on the preserve and the forest near the proposed leasing areas. This control project includes trimming of infected trees and collecting seeds from resistant trees and propagating resistant seeds in order to propagate a rust resistant strain of pines.