What’s at Stake
Photo by Greg Watts
What's At Stake.
The Thompson Divide area covers approximately 221,500 acres situated mostly west of the Crystal River and north of McClure Pass. There are currently 81 leases being held by the oil and gas industry in the Thompson Divide area. The roads and infrastructure necessary to facilitate drilling in this area would have a devastating impacts on the wildlife and wildlife habitat, water quality, rural character and agricultural heritage of our community.
Our Community.
Residents and visitors alike value the quality of life and the rural character offered by the Thompson Divide area of concern. This is a great place to live, thanks largely to the recreational opportunities, open space and clean air and water we all enjoy, courtesy of this wonderful, largely undeveloped backcountry.
The Thompson Divide is also home to important populations of elk, bear, mountain lion, bighorn sheep, lynx, wild turkeys, boreal owls and cutthroat trout. This is a biologically rich, mostly mid-elevation landscape that has been left largely in its natural state, and wildlife thrive in it. Seemingly endless stands of aspen and old-growth spruce forests, numerous streams, willow carrs and meadows provide ideal breeding habitat, as well as important transitional, winter and summer range for big game.
Biking in Thompson Divide
Photo of Ralph Wanner
Our Watershed.
The Thompson Divide Coalition, in conjunction with the Roaring Fork Conservancy, just completed the "Thompson Divide Baseline Water Quality Study". This study represents the culmination of intensive surface and ground water testing in the Thompson Divide area. It incorporates several major components: water quality, field data analysis, sediment and acquatic macroinvertebrate (insect) analysis.
The study, commissioned by the Thompson Divide Coalition and conducted by Roaring Fork Conservancy, provides valuable baseline data for water resources in the area, serving as a "yardstick" against which future water quality changes can be measured. The primary focus of this study was to collect scientifically valid, legally defensible data prior to potential oil and gas development in that area.
The Thompson Divide provides domestic and agricultural water for operations in the Crystal, Roaring Fork, and North Fork valleys. People, livestock, and the area's pordigious wildlife populations rely on clear water running out of the divide for their livelihood.
Mt. Sopris from Thompson Divide
Photo by Greg Watts
Our Livelihood and Economic Value.
The Thompson Divide area has been ranched for more than a century, and it remains the strongest enclave of traditional ranching culture in the Roaring Fork Valley. Some 35 operations graze cattle on their own pastures and on federal grazing allotments in the surrounding hills. These ranches preserve thousands of acres of increasingly scarce winter range for deer and elk, and thus play an essential role in the larger ecosystem.
Thompson Divide area is more valuable in its current rural state than it would be if developed by an industry such as oil and gas. The area’s agricultural heritage stands in the balance as oil and gas development creeps nearer. Ranching operations in western portions of Garfield County have been marginalized by industrial oil and gas development. If we don’t act quickly to protect the farming and ranching operations in the Thompson Divide area, we stand to lose them forever.
The Thompson Divide area is a popular recreation destination that includes Sunlight Ski Area, Spring Gulch Nordic Center, Sunlight to Powderhorn snowmobile route. Activities include ice climbing, sport climbing, hiking, biking, hunting and outfitters and guides, fishing and horseback riding. This area should be preserved as a special use area.
The Thompson Divide area and our local communities realize the the valuable economic contributions of tourism, outdoor recreation and agriculture to our local economy. According to the 2011 Sonoran Institute Economic Impact Study, outdoor recreation supports 107,000 jobs and generates nearly $500 million in state tax revenues and produces $7.6 billion in retail sales and services across Colorado. Colorado's diverse agricultural industry employs approximately 43,000 farmers and ranchers, generates $16 billion annually in economic activity, and provides more than 105,000 jobs that depend on Colorado agribusiness. Many tourists visit the state to enjoy the natural environment and to particpate in outdoor recreation activities that depend on healthy lands. Their contributions exceed in $10 billion in direct travel and expenditure and generate more than 143,000 jobs. For a full report, visit sonoraninstitute.org, Colorado Economic Facts.
Mountain biking in Thompson Divide area. Photo courtesy Ralph Wanner
The Finns at Thompson Divide
Photo by Greg Watts
