Drilling may hit rare ferrets' turf BLM plan raises biologists' hackles.
Energy leasing is proposed where black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced in northwestern Colorado.
By Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Here is the general terrain of the Wolf Creek Management Area. The group
of people are DOW and BLM folks (and area high school students) investigating
a prairie dog hole for possible ferret release. (Colorado Division of Wildlife)
The prospect of northwestern Colorado's rampant oil and gas drilling moving into the territory of North America's most endangered mammal has rattled wildlife biologists who have worked for five years to reintroduce black-footed ferrets to the state.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, despite a recommendation from its field office to defer a decision, has nominated for oil and gas leasing a large portion of a 20,000-acre area east of Rangely where 189 black- footed ferrets have been released since 2001.
Biologists with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who learned of the plan Tuesday voiced strong concern that it could jeopardize the reintroduction program just months after biologists had the first indication of success.
A juvenile ferret born in the wild was spotted in the area last fall during a middle-of-the-night survey. It was the first indication that the elusive animals were mating and reproducing in Colorado.
"We've spent a lot of effort and time to see something like drilling thrown in the middle of it," said Rick Krueger, a wildlife biologist with the federal wildlife agency. "It is a big concern."
Estimates for the cost of the ferret program in the Wolf Creek Management Area were unavailable Tuesday.
BLM spokeswoman Theresa Sauer said the other agencies are "jumping the gun."
"It's not a done deal," she said, noting that the BLM could revise lease parcels in the weeks before the final lease sale notice is published March 28. The auction is planned for May 11.
The BLM is a partner with Fish and Wildlife and the DOW on the ferret reintroduction program, and there was some in- house dissension over energy leases in ferret territory.
Staff members at the BLM White River field office in Meeker had recommended holding off on the leases until after the resource-management plan for that area is revised and more public input is gathered. The process of revision is set to begin this summer.
Sauer said after a meeting last week in Denver between White River and state BLM officials that "everyone is in agreement" and that the agency in the next few weeks will look into any possible adverse impacts on the ferrets.
Pam Schnurr, a DOW wildlife biologist who has been heading up the ferret program for the agency, said wildlife biologists are in a bind because they don't know what effect drilling in the mostly vacant arroyo- and ridge- buckled scrubland of the Wolf Creek area would have on the animals. There have been no studies because the colonies are so new and so rare.
"My gut feeling is it wouldn't be good, primarily because of more roads and more traffic," Schnurr said.
Schnurr said there are many unanswered questions about the BLM's plans for the area. She said it is possible the area could have more protection because stipulations could be put on the new leases.
None of the White River BLM officials could be reached for comment.
Black-footed ferrets - large weasels that live on a diet of prairie dogs - were listed as an endangered species in 1967.
A small population was discovered in Wyoming in the early 1980s, and from that population, Colorado developed its reintroduction program. Before their reintroduction, ferrets had not been seen in Colorado since the mid-1940s.
Energy leasing is proposed where black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced in northwestern Colorado.
By Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Here is the general terrain of the Wolf Creek Management Area. The group
of people are DOW and BLM folks (and area high school students) investigating
a prairie dog hole for possible ferret release. (Colorado Division of Wildlife)
The prospect of northwestern Colorado's rampant oil and gas drilling moving into the territory of North America's most endangered mammal has rattled wildlife biologists who have worked for five years to reintroduce black-footed ferrets to the state.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, despite a recommendation from its field office to defer a decision, has nominated for oil and gas leasing a large portion of a 20,000-acre area east of Rangely where 189 black- footed ferrets have been released since 2001.
Biologists with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who learned of the plan Tuesday voiced strong concern that it could jeopardize the reintroduction program just months after biologists had the first indication of success.
A juvenile ferret born in the wild was spotted in the area last fall during a middle-of-the-night survey. It was the first indication that the elusive animals were mating and reproducing in Colorado.
"We've spent a lot of effort and time to see something like drilling thrown in the middle of it," said Rick Krueger, a wildlife biologist with the federal wildlife agency. "It is a big concern."
Estimates for the cost of the ferret program in the Wolf Creek Management Area were unavailable Tuesday.
BLM spokeswoman Theresa Sauer said the other agencies are "jumping the gun."
"It's not a done deal," she said, noting that the BLM could revise lease parcels in the weeks before the final lease sale notice is published March 28. The auction is planned for May 11.
The BLM is a partner with Fish and Wildlife and the DOW on the ferret reintroduction program, and there was some in- house dissension over energy leases in ferret territory.
Staff members at the BLM White River field office in Meeker had recommended holding off on the leases until after the resource-management plan for that area is revised and more public input is gathered. The process of revision is set to begin this summer.
Sauer said after a meeting last week in Denver between White River and state BLM officials that "everyone is in agreement" and that the agency in the next few weeks will look into any possible adverse impacts on the ferrets.
Pam Schnurr, a DOW wildlife biologist who has been heading up the ferret program for the agency, said wildlife biologists are in a bind because they don't know what effect drilling in the mostly vacant arroyo- and ridge- buckled scrubland of the Wolf Creek area would have on the animals. There have been no studies because the colonies are so new and so rare.
"My gut feeling is it wouldn't be good, primarily because of more roads and more traffic," Schnurr said.
Schnurr said there are many unanswered questions about the BLM's plans for the area. She said it is possible the area could have more protection because stipulations could be put on the new leases.
None of the White River BLM officials could be reached for comment.
Black-footed ferrets - large weasels that live on a diet of prairie dogs - were listed as an endangered species in 1967.
A small population was discovered in Wyoming in the early 1980s, and from that population, Colorado developed its reintroduction program. Before their reintroduction, ferrets had not been seen in Colorado since the mid-1940s.
