The Tres Rios Field office of the Bureau of Land Management has received parcel nominations for new oil and gas leases in the area, including on Lone Mesa State Park.
Sixteen parcels total 17,000 acres and are spread out over Montezuma, Dolores, Archuleta and San Miguel counties.
A public scoping process has begun to gather information on potential impacts of oil-and-gas development. An environmental assessment will also be conducted.
Private companies nominate the parcels, and the BLM is obligated to consider leasing the federally owned minerals. The companies bid to lease minerals during a February 2017 auction, then negotiate development with the BLM and private landowners.
Three parcels were nominated along the eastern border and within Lone Mesa State Park, 20 miles north of Dolores. The park is undeveloped and closed to the general public pending a management plan. Special hunting permits are offered during the fall season.
A previous proposed lease sale on the western edge of the park in 2015 was deferred by the BLM because of its proximity to the state nature preserve.
Park manager Scot Elder said Colorado Parks and Wildlife will be submitting similar comments on the BLM’s latest oil-and-gas lease proposal.
“We will be outlining the rare and unique resources in the park and educating the BLM on potential impacts,” Elder said. “There are some issues.”
One concern is that parcel 7796 is within the main entrance corridor planned for the park off of the Dolores-Norwood Road.
The nearly 12,000-acre state park was purchased for $6 million by the CPW in 1999. The mountainous area is rich with diverse flora and fauna and opened for limited big game hunting in 2002.
Montezuma County has only one parcel nominated for possible development. Parcel 7789 off Forest Road 556 is located on private land on Haycamp Mesa, south of the Dolores River and Taylor Mesa.
The land is split estate, where the surface is private but the minerals are owned by the federal government, which leases them for development through the BLM.
In San Miguel County, 11 parcels are proposed, including two in Disappointment Valley and Big Gypsum Valley, eight west of Miromonte Reservoir, and one north of Morrison Creek.
In Archuleta County, one parcel was nominated southwest of Chromo.
The BLM is preparing and environmental assessment of the proposed leases. Comments on the scoping proposal are due no later than June 8.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
