Too Wild

to Drill

VVeerrmmiilllliioonn BBaassiinn,, CCoolloorraaddooPHOTO COURTESY MARK PEARSON

THEWILDERNESS SOCIETY

Too Wild to Drill www.wilderness.org The Wilderness Society

VVeerrmmiilllliioonn BBaassiinn,, CCoolloorraaddoo

What’s at Stake?

V isitors to Colorado’s wild canyon country cangaze across panoramic vistas of glowingredrock, discover hidden canyons, and walk for

miles across windswept plateaus of ancient piñons andgnarled junipers. It is in this country, where native civ-ilizations etched into rock the sacred symbols of theircultures, that coyotes howl, eagles soar and elk calve.Vermillion Basin, in Colorado’s northwest corner,embodies this wild and rugged landscape, with itsvividly colored badlands, rich archaeological history,and rare plant communities.

Lookout Mountain and the adjacent VermillionBluffs rise up in a dramatic 1,700-foot escarpment,gracing visitors with views that encompass much ofnorthwest Colorado. Below, Vermillion Basin stretchesout in a vast, undulating, rainbow-colored basin, tran-sected by a stunning desert canyon that cuts throughthe sandstone layers, shaping and breaking the softsediments.

Vermillion Canyon contains a fantastic collection ofpetroglyphs amid sculpted sandstone cliffs that rise upto 1,000 feet. At least eight panels, four of them withdozens of petroglyphs, line the canyon walls. One pet-

roglyph rises over six feet high on a ledge 40 feetabove the canyon floor. Other petroglyphs feature bowhunting, religious figures, coyotes, elk, deer, and foot-prints.

Mammals that inhabit the area include elk, ante-lope, mule deer, coyote, and white-tailed prairie dog.The area also provides habitat for numerous birdspecies, including golden eagle and peregrine falcon.The other biodiversity values of the area are also sig-nificant. The Colorado Natural Heritage Area pro-gram has identified sixteen Potential ConservationAreas for rare plants and plant communities withinthe Vermillion Basin.

“Vermillion Basin is a unique place that should beprotected as wilderness,” says Reed Morris of theColorado Environmental Coalition. “It would beincredibly short-sighted to open an area like this to oiland gas development and the associated pipelines, drillpads, and roads. We would forever lose the characterof one of the state’s wildest places, as well as the mys-teries of its canyons, petroglyphs, and rare plants andanimals.” n

Why is the Vermillion Basin at Risk?

The southern Wyoming gas boom is moving furthersouth into Colorado, putting tremendous pressureon Vermillion Basin. Large seismic gas exploration

projects have been proposed just to the east and northof the basin, and a 4,000-well gas field build-out has

been proposed for Hiawatha, just north of the area.Travelers who drive along the Colorado/Wyomingborder north of Vermillion will see numerous drillpads where development has already occurred.Vermillion Basin, too, is a target of the industry, and

Protection Status

Vermillion Basin has no formal protection,although the area is part of Colorado’s 1.6 mil-lion-acre Citizens’Wilderness Proposal that

was introduced as legislation by CongresswomanDiana DeGette beginning in 1999 and in subsequentcongresses. The legislation would permanently protect1.3 million acres of Colorado wildlands managed bythe BLM, as well as roughly 300,000 acres of adja-cent Forest Service lands.

The BLM’s own 2001 field review of roadless andwilderness character vindicated citizens’ claims: Theagency found that 77,067 acres out of Vermillion’s

81,028 total acres (or 95% of the area) have wilder-ness characteristics. The BLM’s 2001 inventory reportconcluded: “This large inventory area includes expan-sive and colorful badlands, rugged, steep-walledcanyons, and all or major portions of two designatedAreas of Critical Environmental Concern.Additionally, this area has exceptional supplementalvalues including rare and uncommon plants and plantcommunities, unique geological features, spectacularscenery and scenic vistas, and irreplaceable culturalresources.” n

derness.org The Wilderness Society

Why is the Vermillion Basin at Risk? continuedin 2001, BLM actually offered two oil and gas leasesales directly on the border of Vermillion Basin on thetop of Lookout Mountain, one of the most prominentlandmarks in the wilderness viewshed.

The high level of interest by the oil and gas indus-try makes quite clear that without an effectiveResource Management Plan, the remote and ruggedVermillion Basin would soon be covered with a net-work of roads, drill pads, waste ponds, and pipelines,and its wilderness character lost forever.

The Vermillion Basin is part of the Little SnakeResource Area, which is in the midst of a plan revi-sion that will decide how the area is managed for thenext two decades; the plan will also determine thefuture of six other citizen-proposed wilderness areasand some of Colorado’s best habitat for the imperiledsage grouse and largest elk herd. Although the BLMhas determined that a portion of Vermillion Basin hashigh potential for oil and gas, the BLM’s Little SnakeField Office (Craig, CO) has committed to not leas-ing the area until the updated management plan isreleased and decides the management fate of thebasin. The draft plan is expected in January 2007.

In January 2003, the Moffat County Board ofCommissioners approved a resolution to assert high-way right-of-way claims under provisions of an 1866mining law known as R.S. (Revised Statute) 2477.The County has claimed more than 2,000 miles ofroutes, including over 230 miles of claimed “roads”

within the 77,000 roadless wilderness-quality acres ofVermillion Basin. Many of these claimed roads arecowpaths, faint tracks, or non-existent, but during theongoing planning process, Moffat County is pressur-ing BLM to consider these claims, which could even-tually lead to proposals to further open the area’s pris-tine wilderness, ecological and cultural values to off-highway vehicle traffic. n

Current Oil and Gas Development

E xcept for its northeast corner, Vermillion Basin, aswell as the adjacent proposed Cold SpringMountain Wilderness, is otherwise unleased and,

for the time being, represents an oasis of wildness in alandscape otherwise slated for oil and gas development.

As part of the Little Snake plan revision, BLM iscurrently considering whether to incorporate a pro-posal from Moffat County and the State of Coloradoto allow energy development to disturb one percent ofthe Vermillion Basin area. However, even this amountof development, which could mean as many as 125well pads and associated roads in the northern andmost delicate portion of the basin, would foreverdestroy the Basin’s wild character.

To help inform the public planning process, TheWilderness Society’s Center for Landscape Analysiscompleted a habitat fragmentation analysis of MoffatCounty’s Vermillion Basin drilling proposal to illus-trate its shortcomings in adequately protecting sagegrouse nesting habitat. The Wilderness Society is alsoconducting a comprehensive analysis of the differentmanagement alternatives in the BLM’s draft plan tocontrast their impacts on proposed wilderness, keyhabitat and other public values to help guide thethinking of BLM, local citizens, interest groups andlocal governments actively participating in the plan-ning process. n

“The cultural resources within the

Vermillion Basin that we know about

—the buffalo jump from Lookout

Mountain and the dramatic rock art

panels in Vermillion Canyon—are

likely just the tip of the iceberg. If we

do not protect Vermillion Basin, we

will lose centuries of cultural artifacts

that are a looking glass into the

West’s native peoples.”

— JANE YAZZIE, MOFFAT COUNTY RESIDENT

For More Informationn Suzanne Jones, The Wilderness Society,

303/650-5818 ext 102n Reed Morris, Colorado Environmental

Coalition, 970/824-5241

Where is Vermillion Basin?

COLORADO

JJ Denver

VermillionBasin

Solution

T he release of the Colorado BLM’s ResourceManagement Plan for the Little Snake ResourceArea will determine the fate of the Vermillion

Basin, including whether the area’s wilderness charac-ter will be protected or developed for oil and gas.Concerned citizens can follow or learn how to partici-pate in the process by visiting the web page for TheWilderness Society’s BLM Action Center at<<http://wilderness.org/OurIssues/BLM/ActionCenter/index.cfm?TopLevel=BLMActionCenter>>.

During this planning process, the ColoradoWilderness Network has formally nominated protect-ing the Vermillion Basin by having it designated as anOutstanding Natural Area (a type of ACEC). This

designation was established by the BLM primarily toprotect unique scenic, scientific, educational, andrecreational values for the enjoyment of current andfuture generations.

Ultimately, however, the solution to preservingwilderness-quality lands like Vermillion Basin is leg-islative passage of Colorado’s Citizens’WildernessProposal, which would protect over 1.6 million acresof Colorado’s canyon country. With the vast majorityof BLM lands in Colorado and nationally alreadyopen to oil and gas development, such protectionwould be especially appropriate for this wild, spectac-ular corner of Colorado’s canyon country. n

TWS Research on Oil and Gas Issues: A wealth of research focused on oil and gas development in the

West and Alaska is available on The Wilderness Society’s website athttp://Wilderness.org/Library/OilAndGas.cfm