Plan Preserves Habitat in Colorado's San Juan Basin
A collaboration in southwestern Colorado between conservationists, wildlife officials and an energy company limits the impacts of drilling on mule deer, raptors and other animals.
By Matthew H. Davis
The Colorado Division of Wildlife and BP America Production Company earlier this month announced an agreement to mitigate the effects of energy drilling in the Sun Juan Basin in Colorado's southwestern corner, near Durango.
The proposed plan would offset habitat loss caused by the impact of 68 new or expanded drilling sites that would directly affect about 190 acres. The plan also sought to conserve habitat for 20 species of plants and animals—including mule deer, raptors and groundhogs, as well as several grass species—in a study area covering about 2,700 square miles.
The majority of the drilling project sits on private lands, with BP only owning mineral rights. The plan allows the DOW to advise BP as to which lands would be suitable for mitigation. Then, BP will work with land owners to develop conservation easements and other methods for protecting the lands. At the moment, the exact acreage of land conserved under the agreement hasn't been determined. "The agreement shows that it is possible to develop natural gas resources and preserve Colorado's wildlife," state Division of Wildlife Director Tom Remington said. "This is an ideal model for planning natural resource development and conservation on a landscape scale."
The plan, which was developed over 18 months by the Nature Conservatory, DOW and BP, determined 11 high-priority areas for habitat conservation in the San Juan Basin. The Basin stretches from the southwest corner of Colorado into northwestern New Mexico and features many diverse landscapes—including mountain, desert and mesa habitats. "This is a positive step and these types of plans should be adopted as standard instead of as a novel approach," Nature Conservancy lead scientist John Kiesecker told the Denver Post recently.
Although the DOW called the Basin plan "innovative," this is not the first time the state has developed a mitigation plan to offset oil and gas disruptions. In recent years, Wildlife Mitigation Plans have become increasing common in Colorado. Last August, then-Governor Bill Ritter made an announcement that the DOW had been working with oil and gas companies to develop similar plans to protect wildlife. In the last two years, the DOW has negotiated 11 similar plans in western Colorado's Piceance Basin, located 250 miles north of the San Juan project, on Colorado's Western Slope. The plans in the Piceance Basin protected nearly 355,000 acres of wildlife habitat.
One of the largest agreements in the Piceance Basin, reached by the DOW and the ExxonMobil Oil Company, encompasses nearly 150,000 acres of mostly BLM-owned surface habitat. The plan, much like the San Juan Basin plan, used a similar landscape scale to determine the best possible ways to protect habitats. Both plans use a "best management practices policy" that focuses on traffic to and from wells, the use of multiple wells at each drill pad and gathering waste water to protect aquifers.
This plan is the first one to take what has worked in other parts of western Colorado and put it to work preserving and maintaining wildlife in the San Juan Basin, DOW spokesman Joe Lewandowski said. Colorado's mitigation agreements are reached voluntarily between an energy development company and the DOW, Lewandowski said. The agreement then allows a more streamlined permitting process, which doesn't require the development company to file for a permit for each well.
By Matthew H. Davis
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The proposed plan would offset habitat loss caused by the impact of 68 new or expanded drilling sites that would directly affect about 190 acres. The plan also sought to conserve habitat for 20 species of plants and animals—including mule deer, raptors and groundhogs, as well as several grass species—in a study area covering about 2,700 square miles.
The majority of the drilling project sits on private lands, with BP only owning mineral rights. The plan allows the DOW to advise BP as to which lands would be suitable for mitigation. Then, BP will work with land owners to develop conservation easements and other methods for protecting the lands. At the moment, the exact acreage of land conserved under the agreement hasn't been determined. "The agreement shows that it is possible to develop natural gas resources and preserve Colorado's wildlife," state Division of Wildlife Director Tom Remington said. "This is an ideal model for planning natural resource development and conservation on a landscape scale."
The plan, which was developed over 18 months by the Nature Conservatory, DOW and BP, determined 11 high-priority areas for habitat conservation in the San Juan Basin. The Basin stretches from the southwest corner of Colorado into northwestern New Mexico and features many diverse landscapes—including mountain, desert and mesa habitats. "This is a positive step and these types of plans should be adopted as standard instead of as a novel approach," Nature Conservancy lead scientist John Kiesecker told the Denver Post recently.
Although the DOW called the Basin plan "innovative," this is not the first time the state has developed a mitigation plan to offset oil and gas disruptions. In recent years, Wildlife Mitigation Plans have become increasing common in Colorado. Last August, then-Governor Bill Ritter made an announcement that the DOW had been working with oil and gas companies to develop similar plans to protect wildlife. In the last two years, the DOW has negotiated 11 similar plans in western Colorado's Piceance Basin, located 250 miles north of the San Juan project, on Colorado's Western Slope. The plans in the Piceance Basin protected nearly 355,000 acres of wildlife habitat.
One of the largest agreements in the Piceance Basin, reached by the DOW and the ExxonMobil Oil Company, encompasses nearly 150,000 acres of mostly BLM-owned surface habitat. The plan, much like the San Juan Basin plan, used a similar landscape scale to determine the best possible ways to protect habitats. Both plans use a "best management practices policy" that focuses on traffic to and from wells, the use of multiple wells at each drill pad and gathering waste water to protect aquifers.
This plan is the first one to take what has worked in other parts of western Colorado and put it to work preserving and maintaining wildlife in the San Juan Basin, DOW spokesman Joe Lewandowski said. Colorado's mitigation agreements are reached voluntarily between an energy development company and the DOW, Lewandowski said. The agreement then allows a more streamlined permitting process, which doesn't require the development company to file for a permit for each well.
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