Document Actions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Core Lynx Habitat Spared from Oil and Gas Drilling
Rio Grande National Forest parcels pulled from lease sale after protests from Congressional leaders, counties, cities, and conservationists
Some of the most important habitat for endangered Canada lynx in the Southern Rocky Mountains was spared from imminent damage from oil and gas drilling Friday when the Bureau of Land Management deferred leasing on 144,000 acres of the Rio Grande National Forest.
Essential habitat for the Canada lynx in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado has been spared from oil and gas drilling. Photo courtesy of Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
“This is a reprieve for lynx in Colorado,” said Josh Pollock, Conservation Director at Center for Native Ecosystems, which filed a formal protest of the lease sale based on the impacts to lynx habitat, “and a valuable second chance for the Bureau of Land Management to get it right by not offering up crucial habitat for endangered species for drilling. I hope they take this opportunity to improve their leasing program to avoid these sorts of terrible decisions in the future.”
The Bureau of Land Management announced the deferral of 84 parcels, covering large sections of the Rio Grande National Forest in southern Colorado, from its May 8 oil and gas lease sale “until additional analysis can be completed,” citing information “received from the public, local governments, and our own internal review” as the reason for the deferral. These parcels represent the majority of the acreage the Bureau of Land Management was planning to offer in the upcoming sale.
The deferred parcels are within the “core release area” used by the Colorado Division of Wildlife to reintroduce lynx starting in 2000. Several hundred lynx were released over several years, and lynx now occupy the Rio Grande National Forest and other nearby high elevation mountainous habitat. Some of the parcels which would have been offered in the oil and gas lease sale include denning and wintering habitat for lynx, terrain types considered especially important to lynx survival.
“Lynx in the Southern Rockies face so many other threats, from being killed on roads and highways to losing habitat to development,” said Pollock. “We should be doing everything we can to keep the traffic, noise, and other disturbances of oil and gas rigs out of their most important habitat.”
The proposed lease sale drew protests from a large number of diverse entities, including Congressional Representative John Salazar and his brother Senator Ken Salazar, who sent a letter to the Bureau of Land Management last week expressing concern over the sale. Several local governments which would have been affected by the sale submitted formal protests, including Rio Grande and Saguache Counties and the towns of Del Norte and Crestone. Conservation organizations also protested, including Center for Native Ecosystems, the San Luis Valley Water Protection Coalition, and the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council.
“There are lots of reasons to preserve our Rocky Mountain scenery, our clean air and water, and the small town character of our mountain communities,” said Pollock. “Lynx habitat overlaps with all these other values in the mountains, which is one more reason why oil and gas drilling doesn’t belong there.”
Still affected by the proposed lease sale is important habitat for other imperiled wildlife, including greater sage grouse, Gunnison sage grouse, boreal owl, Colorado River cutthroat trout, and Rio Grande cutthroat trout.
As of Sunday, May 04, three parcels affecting the town of Crestone were still scheduled for leasing during the public sale.
###
