Wednesday, 01 February 2012 07:02

The Pitkin County Commissioners hold weekly work sessions on Tuesdays and bi-monthly public hearings on Wednesdays in the Plaza One building (next to the Courthouse) in Aspen.  Both meetings are televised live and repeated on locater CG12 TV.  They are also streamed live and available on the County website. Agendas are posted in the Aspen/Glenwood newspapers and on-line at www.aspenpitkin.com.   In this column, your District 5 Commissioner, George Newman offers his take on current matters.  You can reach him at   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

BOCC comments on BLM Resource Management Plan

Pitkin County Commissioners recently submitted comments to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regarding the updating of their guiding document known as the Resource Management Plan.  The BLM’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement outlines four alternatives (known as A, B, C and D).  In most cases, Alternative C (whose theme is “Conservation”) best aligns with the values and goals of our community; however, no single alternative clearly provides for the full range of management preferences of Pitkin County.  We propose a hybrid management scheme containing elements of Alternative C and B (mixed use) to better address the uniqueness of each parcel.   Within this hybrid, we also introduce the concepts of employing carrying capacity, enforcement approaches, adaptive environmental management, and winter core wildlife designation.

Federal public lands comprise some 83% of the area in Pitkin County.  Of this, the BLM manages 13 parcels of land (comprising 27,490 acres), not to mention subsurface mineral rights under both public lands (USFS) and privately owned parcels (split estates).  These mid-elevation parcels are a critical part of our ecosystem in the Roaring Fork Valley, possessing outstanding scenic quality, wildlife habitat and important recreational access to our rivers and mountains.  They serve as a source of livelihood for those working directly in the recreation industry; provide grazing lands for ranchers with permits, and outstanding hunting and fishing grounds:  all contributing to our economic viability and sustainability.  

As your County Commissioner, I have represented Pitkin County over the last 3 years in many meetings with the BLM to ensure that our local concerns would be addressed.  To further these efforts, we held public meetings seeking citizen input, and coordinated our comments with those of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department as well as with our neighboring municipalities and Counties in the Valley.  Our comments cover a myriad of issues such as emergency management plans including search and rescue and wildfire response, to land tenure and public access, recreation and mineral resource development. This article focuses on a few:

Our comments regarding oil and gas exploration concentrate on environmental concerns such as water and air quality.  We insist the BLM give public health and safety issues priority consideration relative to the development of oil and gas and other mineral extraction activities.  To this end, the County participated financially in an air quality study which disclosed that, based on their own projections for future oil and gas development, the BLM would be in violation of Federal air quality standards.  We also helped fund a base line water quality study for Thompson Creek.  We strongly believe any energy development should be accompanied by carefully selected monitoring programs establishing baseline data prior to the commencement of operations: and continued monitoring should be mandated.  

Popular areas such as the Crown merit a special planning effort given the intense demand for a wide range and mix of sometimes conflicting recreational, mechanized and motorized uses, grazing and cattle management – not to mention their significant value as critical winter range for deer and elk.  We recommend a separate “sub-area” plan be developed for the Crown to study its overall carrying capacity, sustainability, and compatibility of uses.  This may include limitations on users, winter closures for wildlife protection, and re-visiting current recreational trails with the understanding that not all existing trails including “bandit trails” may be appropriate given their impacts on other needs and resources.   

In regards to land tenure, any diminution of Federal public lands, or loss of public access thereto (including land exchanges and land disposal), is a serious concern for Pitkin County and should be avoided whenever possible.  Our comments lay out specific steps and criteria to be considered in each case ensuring public benefit for Pitkin County remain paramount.  

Clearly, the lack of enforcement is a major issue associated with any closures and/or management decisions.  Given the shortage of federal funding and staff for enforcement, we believe the BLM should consider collaborating with such groups made up of citizens, local, federal (BLM and U.S.F.S.) and state agencies (Parks and Wildlife) as this type of approach could also foster development of more trust between users and the agencies that manage our lands.

To view the BOCC comments in their entirety, please go to www.aspenpitkin.com and then to County Spotlight

 

< Prev		Next >