Federal biologists: Mountain goats threaten Colorado bighorn sheep

Bighorn sheep once just about posed for Barb Day when she crept across their high-country habitat with her camera.

Now, in the latest twist of an ecological saga, non-native mountain goats are displacing the sheep along the road from Echo Lake Lodge to Mount Evans' 14,264-foot summit.

"You miss them," said Day, who has run the lodge for 31 years. She and others who sense trouble are correct.

The long-term survival of bighorn sheep — Colorado's curly-horned state animal — is far from assured, with the sheep facing heavy threats here and across the West.

Read the full story from the Denver Post here.

Colorado mulls adoption of sagebrush study

Today, there is widespread concern over the continued loss of sagebrush habitat across the West.

Not only is the landscape changed, but familiar species disappear, and in some ways traditional activities also are threatened.

While sage grouse seem to get most of the publicity, there are many other species threatened by the continued loss of sagebrush habitat.

A report prepared by two western Colorado biologists addressing the impacts of sagebrush loss is being considered for adoption by the Colorado Wildlife Commission.

Read the full story from the Grand Junction Sentinel here.

Federal judge clears way for CBM drilling in Colorado mountains

Coal-bed methane drilling can go ahead in the HD Mountains, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. Senior District Judge Richard Matsch ruled against the San Juan Citizens Alliance and other environmental groups in their lawsuit to block drilling. The groups sued to throw out a 2007 Forest Service decision that allows expanded drilling in northern areas of the San Juan Basin gas field in La Plata and Archuleta counties.

The 2007 decision includes the roadless area in the HD Mountains south of Bayfield. The campaign to keep drillers out of the HDs had been a major priority of local and regional environmental groups.

Read the full story from the Durango Herald here.

Colorado energy lease plan draws protests

The potential for new energy development in tributaries of the North Platte River in northern North Park, Colorado, west of Cameron Pass could make those streams a little less wild and free, and it has the National Wildlife Federation and other sportsmen's advocacy groups crying foul.

The groups on Wednesday filed official protests with the federal government to try to stop energy development in the most sensitive areas of North Park.

Read the full story from the Fort Collins Coloradoan here .

Hunters, anglers protest energy leases in northern Colorado

A coalition of hunters and anglers says a protest of proposed federal oil and gas leases in a wildlife-rich part of north-central Colorado is an opportunity for the Obama administration to follow through on a pledge for greater scrutiny of leasing on public land.

The groups have filed a protest with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management over the plan to take bids on about 11,400 acres in its May 13 auction in Denver.

The 14 disputed parcels northwest of Walden are in the middle of migration routes for elk, mule deer and pronghorns and are home to moose, fisheries and sage grouse breeding grounds, the groups said.

Read the full article from the Aspen Times here.

BLM gets $110K in stimulus funds to build Colorado trail

Local youth and outdoors types will benefit from a 22-mile trail being built near Delta on public land, thanks to stimulus dollars.

For the first time in Colorado on Bureau of Land Management land, money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is being used for trail building.

More than 50 youths, ages 16 to 24, will have paid work that is expected to last through the fall, according to Rusty Lloyd, director of the Western Colorado Conservation Corps.

Read the full story from the Grand Junction Sentinel here . 

River-access bill hits snag in Colorado Senate

A bill that could buoy or sink Colorado's rafting industry and affect hundreds of thousands of river enthusiasts and landowners may have floated through the House, but it's on the rocks in the Senate.

The Capitol battle pits two core Colorado values against each other: the love of the outdoors and the allegiance to personal property rights.

The bill would guarantee the right of existing commercial rafters to float through private land, a practice now threatened by a conflict between a developer and outfitters on the Taylor River near Almont.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14527068#ixzz0hiPZWU4d

Senior-water rights holders sue Colorado

Lawyers for senior water-rights owners sued the state government Monday in La Plata County and five towns, saying the state engineer is failing to protect water-rights owners from gas and oil companies.

Gas and oil companies remove water from the ground after they drill wells. In a previous case, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of two Archuleta County families - the Vances and the Fitzgeralds - and required gas companies to get water permits for their coal-bed methane wells.

Read the full article from the Durango Herald here .

BLM scurries to correct lease error in Colorado wildlife refuge

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says it plans to cancel an oil and gas lease in the Garfield Creek State Wildlife Area unless the company owning it agrees to land-disturbance restrictions that the BLM mistakenly failed to impose when the lease was issued.

The agency is seeking to resolve an oversight when the lease was issued for 1,520 acres at the wildlife area, south of New Castle. The lease’s majority owner is Dejour Energy (USA) Corp., which acquired it from the initial buyer.

The wildlife area covers more than 13,000 acres. Its owner, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, doesn’t want it disturbed by oil and gas development, but it can’t stop such activity because it doesn’t own the underlying mineral rights

Read the full story from the Grand Junction Sentinel here .

Shell Oil drops fight for water rights in Colorado

Shell Oil announced it was abandoning its fight for a conditional water permit from the Yampa River for oilshale work in Colorado's Rio Blanco County, where the company holds three federal research and development oilshale leases, and company officials said the termination of the water fight does not mean its walking away from those leases.

Read the full story from the Grand Junction Sentinel here .