What is at Stake

Our area of concern covers approximately 200,000 acres mostly west of the Crystal River and north of McClure Pass (click on map at right). This area contains two popular local ski areas (Ski Sunlight and the Spring Gulch cross-country trails) and much of the largest unprotected roadless expanse in Colorado.

This landscape is our home – it’s the backyard that we play in, the skyline of our sunsets, the forest that filters our air and provides habitat for the wildlife we coexist with. It’s the headwaters of several watersheds that supply the clean water we drink and use for agriculture. It’s the livelihood of our ranching families, and indirectly it sustains the economies and wellbeing of Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, Redstone and other communities.

Roughly half of the Thompson Divide area – about 105,000 acres – has been leased for oil and gas development. Several different companies hold 81 leases on this landscape. The roads and infrastructure necessary to facilitate drilling in this area would have a devastating impact on the wildlife, water quality, rural character and agricultural heritage of our community. Development would also have major off-site impacts – truck traffic, population increases, socioeconomic problems – especially in Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, which provide the most logical access to this area.

This is the ideal time to start a community dialog about how to protect the Thompson Divide area from future development. After a several-year period of relentless gas-development pressure in western Colorado, a sour economy has slowed the pace of drilling and development. But this period is unlikely to last long. Various factors – rising gas prices, new technology and companies’ desire to extend their leases through exploratory development – are likely to heighten the pressure to drill in this area over time.