Craig Daily Press / Albee: More than barren rock

Archive for Wednesday, July 21, 2010

July 21, 2010

To the editor:

I must take exception to one of the statements made in the “Our View” editorial in the July 17 issue of the Saturday Morning Press.

Saying that Vermillion Basin is a largely barren rock with little wildlife is ridiculous.

I realize that in Northwest Colorado wildlife means deer, elk and pronghorn, but there are hundreds of other wildlife species, including reptiles, amphibians, birds, non-game mammals (including prairie dogs) and insects, that are vital to the overall health of the ecosystem in Vermillion Basin.

The importance of maintaining the health of Vermillion Basin far outweighs the chance of a small economic gain that may or may not come from oil and gas development.

I would also like to point out that arid desert environments such as Vermillion Basin are very fragile and successful reclamation of oil and gas well sites is extremely difficult, which can result in long-term impacts that are impossible to mitigate.

Mike Albee

21 July 2010 at 11:55 a.m.

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trout2k (Anonymous) says…

Sometimes, we adults are like spoiled children in a candy store. The only thing that matters is the prize….we need to look at the long term impact of our decisions. The vermillion basin breathes and lives as one of the last great wilds of our country. It remains mostly unspoiled, yet easily accessed. If we continue, we humans will eventually cover the entire earth with our parasitic nature, deplete it of all its natural resources—and all that will remain is the warts of industry and machines.

21 July 2010 at 12:09 p.m.

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rhammel (Anonymous) says…

I am glad to see that you are still around, Mike. As I said in my electronic post, reclaimation in this fragile environment is nearly impossible. My question is: who is going to approve the reclaimation once finished? The local office of BLM certainly does not have people of that caliber.