BLM finalizes multiple Resource Management Plans for Colorado’s West Slope
Castle Peak Wilderness Study Area in Western Colorado
BLM Colorado/Bob Wick
While final agency plans will increase conservation and enhance protections for critical wildlife habitat, conservationists expressed disappointment by a missed opportunity to significantly address climate emissions
Grand Junction, Colorado -- Conservationists celebrated today's announcement by the Bureau of Land Management finalizing a series of plans that will increase protections for sensitive wildlife habitat, cultural sites, and wildlands. Despite significant conservation gains, leaders expressed disappointment with the plan's modest emissions reductions and noted that there is still work to be done. Records of decisions were announced for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction BLM field office plans and the statewide Big Game Habitat Resource Management Plan Amendment.
The new plans for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction field offices will determine how two million acres of public lands in western Colorado are managed for decades to come. The final plans increase conservation-focused management of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and other sensitive wildlands. However, they only make modest gains on reducing damaging climate emissions by closing lands with no and low potential, and some areas with moderate potential, for oil and gas development, leaving many sensitive environmental areas open to future oil and gas leasing.
“These new management plans are a significant improvement from the 2015 plans and provide important protections for special places like the Grand Hogback and Castle Peak. However, the BLM missed a critical opportunity to meaningfully address the climate impacts of fossil fuel development on our public lands, leaving nearly all of the high occurrence lands in the planning area open to leasing,” said Erin Riccio, the Advocacy Director at Wilderness Workshop. “The agency can and should do more to address the climate emergency.”
The BLM also finalized a statewide amendment to all Colorado BLM management plans to improve protections for big game animals through modern management for oil and gas development. That amendment will affect BLM lands in nearly every county in the state.
“Today, the BLM made important progress towards protecting critical natural resources, cultural areas and wildlife corridors that benefit communities across the West Slope and Colorado. This is a marked improvement over the previous plans, but much work still remains,” said Jim Ramey, Colorado State Director at The Wilderness Society. “These decisions demonstrate that extractive industries continue to hold outsized influence on decisions that impact the public lands we hold dear. Moving forward, the BLM should prioritize managing public lands to be part of the climate solution, not the problem.”
Additional Information:
According to the 2024 Conservation in the West poll, 82% of Coloradans “think more emphasis should be placed on conserving wildlife migration routes than on new development, roads, ranching, or oil and gas production in those areas.” During the comment period for the draft Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction plans, the broader conservation community generated responses from nearly 6,000 community members. Nearly eighty-five businesses and over 25 elected officials on the Western Slope signed letters in support of the proposed closures to new leasing and increased conservation management. The BLM's supplemental environmental review for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction Field Offices is the result of litigation filed by Wilderness Workshop, The Wilderness Society and partner organizations in Colorado.
The BLM’s statewide big game habitat plan amendment covers 8.3 million surface acres and 4.7 million acres of mineral estate extending to every Colorado BLM Field Office and to every corner of the state, and is the result of litigation filed by the state of Colorado. The final plan aligns BLM management of oil and gas with Colorado’s state rules. The new plan amends all existing BLM land use plans in the state and provides guidance intended to protect wildlife habitat by defining limits on high-density development, including facility and route density limitations, and other lease stipulations that would incorporate conservation measures for important big game habitat, specifically for elk, mule deer, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep.
Wilderness Workshop works across more than 4 million acres of public lands to ensure their ecological integrity. We have led efforts to designate more than half a million acres of Wilderness and hundreds of thousands of roadless areas in western Colorado. Learn more at www.WildernessWorkshop.org
The Wilderness Society has been working since 1935 on uniting people to protect America’s wild places. With more than one million members and supporters, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect nearly 112 million acres of wilderness in 44 states and ensure public lands’ sound management. We have been at the forefront of nearly every major public lands victory.
