Planning documents will be posted at: http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/nm/canm.html. CD copies will be made available to the public for personal use. Paper copies will be available for viewing during regular business hours at the following locations:
* Anasazi Heritage Center, 27501 Highway 184, Dolores
* Dolores Public Lands Center, 29211 Highway 184, Dolores
* San Juan Public Lands Center, 15 Burnett Court, Durango
* Dolores Public Library, 420 Railroad Ave., Dolores
* Cortez Public Library, 202 N. Park, Cortez
* Mancos Public Library, 211 W. Main, Mancos
* Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd, Durango
* Dolores County Extension Office, 409 N. Main, Dove Creek
For more information or to request a copy of the plan, contact the BLM, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument – Anasazi Heritage Center at 970-882-5600.
State Wildlife Commission to Finalize Bird Conservation Provisions July 8
GUNNISON –The Colorado Wildlife Commission will finalize all 2010 small game and migratory bird provisions, including season dates, bag and possession limits and manner of take at its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, July 8, in Gunnison, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at the Western State College Aspinall-Wilson Center, 909 East Escalante Drive.
As part of the commission's review of the small game and migratory bird regulations, commissioners will vote on allowing the take of the non-native, exotic Eurasian collared-doves year-round.
In addition, the commission will consider whether greater sage-grouse hunting seasons should be further restricted based on conservation plan agreements. Members of the commission will also review draft regulations implementing Senate Bill 10-211, authorizing the reduction of big game license fees and the establishment of a preference for big game licenses for members of the United States Armed Services Wounded Warrior programs.
The legislation authorized this program for soldiers who are residents of, or who are stationed in Colorado, and who have sustained severe combat-related injuries while serving in post-Sept. 11, 2001 overseas contingency operations.
Colorado DOW staff will also update the commission on the effort to remove lake trout from Blue Mesa Reservoir, to foster recovery of the reservoir's kokanee salmon population.
Constituents can tune into the meetings and workshops through the DOW's website. Click on the “listen to audio” link on the Wildlife Commission’s webpage during the meeting (broadcasts are available only during the meeting). To view the entire agenda for the July commission meeting, please visit: http://wildlife.state.co.us/WildlifeCommission/.
The Colorado Wildlife Commission is an 11-member board appointed by the governor that sets DOW regulations and policies for hunting, fishing, watchable wildlife as well as non-game, threatened and endangered species. The Commission also oversees Division of Wildlife land purchases and property regulations.
For more information, please visit http://wildlife.state.co.us/news/index.asp?DivisionID=3 Conservation Groups Seek to Block Drilling in Utah Forests
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Conservation groups are asking a judge to block oil and gas drilling around trout streams and in roadless forests of northern Utah.
The groups are challenging lease sales held in 2004 and 2005. They contend a multiyear effort to resolve their complaints failed to produce a settlement with federal agencies. The leases cover 140,000 acres of public land, including 90,000 acres designated as roadless.
The Utah Rivers Council, Utah Environmental Congress and Save Our Canyons filed the lawsuit this week in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court.
Drilling has not yet occurred in the mountains, valleys or streams near Strawberry Reservoir in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
But opponents contend it could threaten native plants, blue-ribbon trout streams and habitats for animals including deer, elk, mountain goats, the northern three-toed woodpecker, western grebes, Great Basin spadefoot toads, the Sonoran mountain king snake, the rare aquatic snail known as the glossy valvata, and other animals and fish, some of which are federally recognized sensitive species.
The region is widely used for recreation and contains a variety of archaeological and historic resources, including American Indian sites, pioneer-era homesteads and other sites of historic significance.
“The action allows the total alteration of the natural character of the leased area and authorizes an industrial use of the forest that will result in considerable harms such as air pollution, noise, soil erosion, stream sedimentation, habitat destruction, harassment of wildlife, damage to historic sites and a complete transformation of the visual landscape,” the lawsuit contends.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Erin O'Connor said the agency has received the lawsuit and is reviewing it. Messages left by The Associated Press for the BLM on Friday were not immediately returned.
In court papers, conservationists argue the BLM ignored an environmental impact study from 1997 and a forest service management plan developed in 2003, which detailed possible environmental threats.
“What we're asking is that the leases be reversed until the government can issue them with adequate environmental protections,” said Charles Dubuc, an attorney representing the conservation groups said.
Dubuc said conservation groups objected to the leases at the time they were being sold but held off on a lawsuit while the nonprofit group Trout Unlimited worked to resolve concerns with forest service and BLM officials. Those negotiations fell flat last year, Dubuc said.
The case has been assigned to the district court's chief judge, Tena Campbell, but no hearings have been scheduled.
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