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Craig — To the editor:

This letter is in response to Moffat County’s Oct. 6 letter to the Bureau of Land Management regarding the BLM’s Resource Management Plan Revision for the Little Snake Field Office (Government Update for Oct. 6, Daily Press).

As former Northwest Colorado Stewardship members, we can assure you that NWCOS never endorsed any plan to allow drilling in citizen-proposed wilderness areas such as Vermillion Basin, nor did NWCOS develop and endorse any plan that would threaten the health of the public lands that provide local citizens with so much.

Statements in Moffat County’s letter implying otherwise are disingenuous and wrong.

For many of us, the size and health of our surrounding public lands are what make Moffat County a special place to live and raise a family. With around 300,000 acres of proposed wilderness, some of the largest elk, mule deer, and antelope herds in the state, and habitat for threatened species such as the greater-sage grouse, the health of our public lands in Moffat County should be a top priority.

These lands provide us with clean air, fresh water and open spaces; they are the foundation that supports sustainable livestock, big game and recreational economies that provide many of our livelihoods.

The Moffat County Commis­sion has a stated mission to “provide a natural and social environment suitable for a variety of commercial, recreational and personal pursuits in which people can live, work, play, grow up and grow old …”

It is the view of many of us in this county that supporting a plan that would open up 93 percent of the resource area to oil and gas development while failing to protect wilderness quality lands and valuable habitat for big game and other species is contrary to this mission. Our commissioners should be working to protect the custom and culture of our great county, not turning it into a boomtown run for and by big oil.

Friends of Northwest Colorado believe we can have responsible energy development while still protecting the unique natural resources that make this county special.

Special places such as the proposed wilderness areas of Vermillion Basin and Cold Springs Mountain should be off-limits to oil and gas development, OHV use, and other degrading activities.

Critical habitats for big game, greater-sage grouse, and cutthroat trout should be protected and enhanced, and cultural resources documented and preserved. In areas where drilling does occur, the county should be pushing for mandatory Best Management Practices, including phased/clustered development and directional drilling, to minimize the physical footprint of these operations.

The Commissioners’ letter points out that “although the public may use the federal lands, it is the local citizens and their economy which are most directly affected by federal lands decisions.”

We are local citizens. We have lived and worked in Moffat County for decades, and many of us came to this place because of the quiet beauty that it provides. It is unfortunate that our own County Commissioners continually aim to sell it off to the highest bidder.

Friends of Northwest Colorado

Rick Hammel, Wes McStay, David Morris, Jo A. O’Brien, Allan Reishus, Monty Robertson, Jan Rogers and Jane S. Yazzie