North Fork Delegation Lobbies BLM to Halt Gas Leasing

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Credit North Fork Merchant Herald

This week, residents and business owners from the North Fork Valley returned to Washington, D.C. in hopes of stopping the Bureau of Land Management proposal to lease 20,000 acres for oil and gas development. 

This is the second time Citizens for a Healthy Community, a local conservation group, has sponsored the trip. On Wednesday, the group met with BLM federal officials and urged them to remove all 20 parcels in the North Fork Valley from the February oil and gas lease sale. The group included:

* Landon Deane, owner of the Eagle Butte Ranch in Paonia and the T-Lazy-7 Ranch in Aspen

• Ty Gillespie, owner of Azura Cellars and Gallery near Paonia

• Marley Hodgson, owner of the Smith Fork Ranch near Crawford

• Pete Kolbenschlag, Paonia resident and owner of Mountain West Strategies consulting firm

• Eugenia Bone, food and wine author

KVNF’s Ariana Brocious spoke with Pete Kolbenschlag and Landon Deane on Wednesday about their visit.

Staff from the Bureau of Land Management’s state office will be in the North Fork Valley early next week to meet with town representatives.

Special town council meetings have been scheduled for Hotchkiss and Crawford. The meeting times are as follows:

Monday, January 21st, 6:30 PM in Hotchkiss.

Tuesday, January 22nd, 5 PM in Crawford

Also on Tuesday, January 22nd, BLM will visit Paonia’s Town Council during their regular meeting at 7 PM.