In writing about the cancellation of the November lease sale in Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune noted that the Bureau of Land Management in that state has grown more cautious about leasing acreage in sensitive wildlife habitat after a ruling by the Interior Board of Land Appeals brought about by Center for Native Ecosystems last year.

Originally, we protested the leasing of land in a white-tailed prairie dog colony where the highly endangered black-footed ferret is being reintroduced.  Black-footed ferrets are North America's most endangered mammal, one that almost went extinct in the wild and is slowly being reintroduced in places like eastern Utah, where there are still prairie dog colonies intact enough to sustain it.  The BLM offered its oil and gas leases without considering what drilling would do to the ferret reintroduction program, and the land board's ruling to that effect has implications for all of the BLM's analysis of drilling impacts to wildlife. 

CNE Staff Biologist Megan Corrigan appears in the Salt Lake Tribune story with this apt assessment of the situation:  "It makes sense for the BLM to take time and do a good, thorough analysis that looks at the impacts on the fragile wildlife of the lands they are considering for leasing... Once that property gets turned over to the energy companies, it is too late."

High Country News also wrote about the ruling and specifically investigated how much of a precedent the Utah lease sale cancellation could set for other BLM offices.  This question was most pointedly raised by other outlets in Colorado, in part because the upcoming Colorado oil and gas lease sale includes many parcels in habitat for at-risk wildlife, such as the greater sage-grouse.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel considered quite directly the notion that the BLM in Colorado was subject to the same interpretation of their duty to protect wildlife habitat from drilling impacts.  The opening paragraph notes that the Utah lease sale cancellation "gave conservationists reasons to object to next month’s Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sale in Colorado, which promises to auction large swaths of sensitive wildlife habitat statewide." 

A few days later, the Denver Post weighed in as well.  The Post's story highlighted the opposition to leases offered within its borders b Grand County, which is following in the footsteps of San Miguel County, the city of Grand Junction, and other state and municipal entities around Colorado who have been forced to speak out against BLM leases offered in places near and dear to them.  Most importantly, however, the Post highlighted the concerns of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, which has been developing a statewide plan to conserve the greater sage-grouse and is rightfully upset about leases being offered in prime habitat for this and other wildlife species it manages.  Ron Volarde at the Division of Wildlife told the Denver Post, "The Colorado Division of Wildlife has several concerns to the impact on wildlife and habitat within and surrounding the proposed lease area... Fragmentation of the habitat will have a negative impact to many wildlife species."