Colorado, North Fork Valley

The North Fork Valley, bordered by Grand Mesa National Forest, the West Elk Wilderness and Gunnison National Forest, is home to organic farms, orchards, vineyards and ranches and excellent hiking and fishing. The North Fork Valley was recently described as "an American Provence" by the author Thomas Huber.

There are a number of coal mines in the area and a growing presence of oil and gas activity.

30,000 acres were nominated for a 2012 oil and gas lease sale in the Paonia, Somerset, Hotchkiss and Crawford areas. Some of these 22 lease parcels are in vital watersheds and in viable agricultural areas.

These small towns would be significantly impacted by the resource extraction, and the livelihood of farmers and ranchers producing organic or chemical-free food would be in jeopardy if any amount of chemicals were to contaminate their irrigation water.

Local citizens mobilized rapidly and urged the BLM to recognize the unique characteristics of the North Fork Valley. During the scoping period, over 3,000 citizens submitted letters to the BLM. More than 60% of the region’s households wrote to ask the BLM to withdraw these 22 parcels, but the BLM in its March 2012 Environmental Assessment, issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), stating that leasing will not result in any negative impacts to the community that warrant further analysis.

After another round of public comment, the overwhelming community consensus was that natural gas extraction of such scale and proximity to farming is unacceptable. As a result, the BLM announced in May 2012 that it would defer all 22 parcels from the lease sale until further analysis of the impacts is considered. It’s a victory for now, but the citizens still have a lot of work to do in order to ensure the health and safety of their community.