CRAIG, Colo. – By deferring an oil and gas lease in northwest Colorado that could have jeopardized native trout, the Bureau of Land Management has signaled a new day for energy development in sensitive fish and wildlife habitats, a sportsmen’s coalition announced today.

Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development was troubled by oil and gas development proposed for the 900-acre parcel due to its potential impacts on two populations of Colorado River cutthroat trout, a species of special concern in Colorado. The public land in the proposal, located 25 miles northeast of Craig, encompasses Cataract Creek and the Roaring Fork of Slater Creek. It was originally reviewed for leasing in 1991.

Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development is a coalition of more than 500 businesses, organizations and individuals dedicated to conserving irreplaceable habitats so future generations can hunt and fish on public lands. The coalition is led by the National Wildlife Federation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Trout Unlimited.

In the 18 years since the lease was proposed, much has been learned about balancing fish and wildlife habitat with energy development, but the decision to lease this parcel has not been updated. However, the BLM is revising its resource management plan for the area, and the sportsmen’s coalition expects the agency to establish measures to protect the fish.

“Deferring this lease was the right decision,” said Steve Belinda, energy policy manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “Considering that the BLM is revising its Little Snake Resource Management Plan, which governs administration of the area’s natural resources, waiting to proceed with leasing these lands makes a lot of sense.”

The BLM’s action in Colorado has precedent elsewhere and indicates a revised approach by the agency in evaluating proposed energy leases on federally managed public land. In a special report issued earlier this month, the BLM identified similar cases of inappropriate decisions to lease land for development after reviewing 77 leases in Utah that were withdrawn.

“This lease was a victim of a broken process that’s in dire need of repair,” said John Gale, Colorado regional representative for the National Wildlife Federation.

“Secretary Salazar has recognized that a more balanced process is needed,” Gale added, “and the sportsmen of the West stand ready to help the BLM develop a process that works for fish and wildlife, sportsmen and for industry.”

“It made no sense to sell this lease now when old, outdated policies would have conflicted with a new direction in resource management,” said Corey Fisher, energy field coordinator for Trout Unlimited.

“By deferring this lease, the BLM is signaling that it is going to stop leaping before it looks,” said Fisher. “Sportsmen welcome this change and appreciate the BLM thoroughly reviewing this lease to make sure that multi-state and multi-agency efforts to conserve Colorado River cutthroat trout are not compromised.”

For more information about the SFRED coalition, visit www.sportsmen4responsibleenergy.org.

Right now, one of America’s public lands treasures is under threat.

Wyoming’s 120,000-acre Fortification Creek area – and its majestic elk herd – is currently being threatened by rushed plans for coal bed methane gas development.

In fact, the Wyoming Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has already issued 2,000 permits to drill coal bed methane gas before they’ve analyzed the impacts on wildlife or water resources. There’s no reason to rush to develop coal bed methane when such a beautiful and unique landscape is at stake.

Please speak up today to protect these important public lands – and the elk herd they support – from damaging resource extraction practices.

The surrounding landscape is becoming transformed by consumptive land uses – even in the vast state of Wyoming, Fortification Creek has become an island refuge for wildlife ringed by a sea of mineral development.

Urge National BLM Director Bob Abbey to slow down the unneeded coal bed methane gas development on Wyoming’s Fortification Creek to help conserve these cherished public lands.

Thanks for standing up for public lands!

HELENA (AP) — A dozen or so bills passed during the Legislature’s 3 1/2-month session make it easier to go afield for a sport that has been in decline nationally, but appears to be holding its own in Montana. For the most part, the bills broaden the licensure of hunting or lift administrative barriers.

“Accommodating some additional folks” is how Ron Aasheim of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks sums up the measures.

They include one written for people who have Down syndrome or other developmental disabilities, can understand the content of a hunter education course required of license applicants born after Jan. 1, 1985, but cannot pass the written exam. The new law, effective in 2010 and similar to one in Minnesota, allows the disabled person to seek a provisional hunter education certificate, which may be presented when requesting the license. Hunting must be with a parent or other designated person.

Other bills include mechanisms to ease the licensing of students who come to Montana for college; to let chiropractors certify people as disabled so they may get permits to hunt from cars; and to guarantee that military personnel who forfeit hunting licenses or permits because of deployment will get that license or permit upon returning to Montana.

Legislation dubbed “Come Home to Hunt” encourages hunting by Montana expatriates who visit the state to see their relatives.

Nationally, the number of hunters 16 and older fell to 12.5 million in 2006, down 10 percent from 1996, according to Census Bureau surveys conducted for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But the surveys found that in Montana there were 197,000 resident and nonresident hunters 16 and older in 2006, compared to 194,000 in 1996. The Department of Fish, Wild-life and Parks says its numbers, based on automated licensing established in 2002, indicate a stronger margin; they cover hunters between the ages of 12 and 16, as well as those older. In 2007, resident hunters alone totaled 193,500, and there were 47,000 from out of state, said the agency’s Aasheim.

The National Wildlife Federation says influences in the U.S. decline of hunting include growing competition for the time of young people, whose diversions may include video games, team sports, music lessons and an array of other activities.

The stability of hunting in Montana is tied to the state’s rural character and the hunting opportunities it provides, plus the significance of hunting in Montana cultures and traditions, said Chris Smith, deputy director of Fish, Wildlife & Parks.