A federal court ruling last month affirming protections for national forest roadless areas means that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should not go forward with its plans to lease 600 acres of roadless forest on Battlement Mesa east of Grand Junction, Colorado conservation groups charged today.

BLM has proposed leasing in the roadless area, which includes habitat for a unique herd of bighorn sheep, citizens-endorsed wilderness areas, an area BLM set aside to protect imperiled Colorado River cutthroat trout streams, and lands near the iconic Pawnee Buttes. The right for energy companies to use of public lands for energy development – which could include the construction of roads, well pads, and pipelines – would be auctioned off as part of the agency's quarterly oil and gas leasing auction set for November 9.

Sensitive lands proposed for leasing in the sale include:

• 600 acres of National Forest lands in the Sunnyside Roadless Area on Battlement Mesa – which is protected now by the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule under the recent court ruling – on the Gunnison National Forest, home to a unique herd of bighorn sheep. Earlier this year, the Colorado Division of Wildlife issued a report that stated: "we strongly recommend no development within this [roadless area] to protect this sensitive bighorn herd." Also proposed for leasing is another 1,000 acres of unroaded lands inventoried by conservationists near Battlement Mesa.
• 5,000 acres of the Citizens' Wilderness Proposal – endorsed by nearly 200 businesses, local governments, and citizens' organizations – including the majestic Yampa River corridor, rugged Sewemup Mesa near the Utah line, and Snaggletooth along the Dolores River, all on BLM lands.
• Broad expanses of open lands on the eastern plains of Colorado at the Comanche National Grassland near La Junta and Springfield and at the Pawnee National Grassland east of Greeley, including some parcels within a few miles of the fabled Pawnee Buttes.
• 800 acres within a designated "area of critical environmental concern" which BLM created to protect the imperiled Colorado River cutthroat trout and its habitat. A federal court recently ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the Colorado River cutthroat for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

On February 20, a federal judge reinstated the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which generally prohibits new construction in national forest roadless areas, including some 4.1 million acres in Colorado.

"This ruling affirms the importance of protecting roadless forest lands and the strong public support for those protections," said Sloan Shoemaker of the Wilderness Workshop in Carbondale. "The leases proposed for roadless areas should be immediately withdrawn until and unless they include prohibitions on new road-building."

In addition to the roadless areas, three western Colorado areas proposed by citizen organizations and introduced in Congress for wilderness protection are also proposed for oil and gas leasing. Conservationists called for withdrawal of those leases because the BLM has not properly evaluated the wilderness values of those lands or ways to keep them from harm.

"These are lands that the BLM forgot when it did its wilderness inventory 20 years ago," said Kurt Kunkle, mapping coordinator for Colorado Environmental Coalition. "We have submitted significant new information about these proposed wilderness areas. The agency should not consider these lands for activities that would damage those wilderness values before it reviews the information and establishes restrictions that protect them."

Colorado's prairie grasslands are also proposed for leasing, threatening the habitat for important and imperiled native birds. Leases proposed in the Comanche National Grassland in southeast Colorado would threaten the survival and already-diminished habitat of the lesser prairie chicken, a candidate for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. The loss of habitat is due, in part, to existing oil and gas development in the area.

"The Comanche National Grassland is among the last remaining places where we can hope to protect the lesser prairie chicken," noted Lauren McCain, Deserts and Grasslands Program Director for Forest Guardians. "Even here, the species is circling the drain; we simply cannot tolerate any more disturbances that threaten the Comanche population."

Other proposed leases in the Pawnee National Grassland on the state's northeast prairies near the distinctive and popular Pawnee Buttes would threaten the ground-nesting mountain plover and the black-tailed prairie dog, both listed as sensitive species, and could compromise the scenic values of the buttes.

"These sweeping prairie vistas and the native animals that inhabit them need careful protection," McCain said. "After a century and a half of development and loss of habitat, we need to keep further disturbances, like oil and gas drilling, away from these sensitive places."

Citizens studying the proposed lease sale noted that the sensitive lands in question make up only a portion of the lands proposed for leasing.

"Surely, in the midst of such a boom of gas leasing and development, we can afford to protect these few acres of important public lands," said Steve Smith, Assistant Regional Director for The Wilderness Society. "It seems only smart and fair."