Loss of habitat is the biggest threat to wildlife and hunting today, and hunters understand that habitat means wild, rugged country not overrun with drilling rigs, roads, pipelines, and OHV trails. That's what we have on Colorado's Roan Plateau. If you've ever driven through Colorado on I-70 between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs, you have likely had your gaze drawn north up the stunning white cliffs that tower 3,000 feet above the highway, to the Roan Plateau.
Every single town and city in Garfield County, where the plateau is located, has expressed support for protecting it from drilling, as have thousands of citizens who wrote or emailed the BLM regarding the agency's development plans. They have been joined by more than 70 area businesses and outfitters who know firsthand the local economic value a pristine plateau provides through tourism and recreation. Citizens and businesses alike want to preserve the natural capital and quality of life that it brings in steady revenues year after year.
Hunting, fishing and wildlife watching generate more than $1 billion per year in Colorado, and hunting on the Roan Plateau alone is worth nearly $4 million annually. Local economies depend on the plateau's abundant wildlife, scenic intact landscapes, and plentiful recreation opportunities to attract visitors and new business alike.
Coloradoans have identified four potential wilderness areas (the gold standard for wildlife habitat and hunting grounds) on the plateau's top, encompassing 48,000 acres.
In addition to being a pristine and remote wilderness, the Roan Plateau is one of the top four most biologically diverse areas on Colorado's West Slope.
Besides, the known oil in Colorado would only supply national demand for a paltry 11 days. The entire Rockies region has known oil supplies sufficient for 100 days of national use, and these projections are contingent on zero demand growth. And fully 88 percent of the public lands in the Rocky Mountains are already open for oil and gas drilling. In Colorado, between 1982 and 2004, oil and gas companies had access to 15.8 million acres of public land-about one-fourth of the entire state. But from 1989 to 2003, they produced enough oil to power the country for one day, and enough gas for less than two weeks. Colorado issued a record 5,904 oil and gas drilling permits in 2006, more than double the permit total from two years earlier.
"Not every place on God's green earth needs to be open to natural-gas exploration," says George Orbanek, the conservative publisher of Colorado's Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. In Wyoming, where the oil and gas boom began first, studies have documented the industry's impact on wildlife. One study funded by the oil and gas industry found a 46 percent decline in migratory mule deer in a heavily drilled area near Piņedale. Studies also show that more than 2 miles of road per square mile leads to a 50 percent reduction in elk populations.
As Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range co-founder Gary Amerine said, drilling in the Wyoming Range is replacing current multiple uses on public lands with a single use: "There's no room for hunting and fishing in an oil and gas field...no room for snowmobiling and camping where oil and gas wells flare and compressors thump 24 hours a day." So it's destined to be here in Colorado, if we don't act today, as outfitter Jeff Mead is learning the hard way.
Mead has been guiding hunters on the west slope for 15 years. "Elk and deer move out when rigs move in," says Mead. "Up on the mountain during hunting season, if you sneeze, you can hear the elk running. So, don't tell me they like eating by a drilling rig." Mead's outfitting business has already taken a hit. He usually has 40 hunters signed up for fall trips, but had only 18 people lined up during the fall of 2005. He blames the drilling, which he said has decreased the number of elk, deer and bear.
According to a recent report released by the National Wildlife Federation, drilling on federal lands in five Western states (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and New Mexico) has doubled over the last decade, and the BLM has leased 23 million acres of mule deer habitat, 18 million acres of antelope habitat, 17 million acres of sage grouse habitat, and 13 million acres of elk habitat. How much is enough? This rush to drill is squeezing hunters off of public land and destroying irreplaceable habitat for big game and other species.
We need oil and gas resources to heat our homes and to provide energy for our daily lives, but given the insignificant reserves found in Colorado it need not come at the expense of the wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities that have been part of Colorado's and the West's heritage for generations.
