Drilling Down
Gas Pains In Colorado’s Forests
By Michael Conniff, 1-11-06
The ramp up in natural gas drilling in the White River National Forest is forcing those in charge of caring for the national parks near Rifle to ask for more help."There's no way we'll be able to keep up with it and keep up with your expectations for caring for the land…" forest Supervisor Maribeth Gustafson told Pitkin County Commissioners this week. “"I don't believe we'll be able to say 'stop.'"
Staffing issues are no small matter when it comes to the destiny of the forest. Impact statements have to be processed “on everything from wildlife habitat to roads and recreation,� according to a story in The Aspen Times. Staff is also responsible to make sure the drilling companies draw the line. The White River National Forest has eleven ski areas within its 2.3 million acres.
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Sorry to be a stickler about things, but National Forests are not National Parks. All too often in the public consciousness these two are conflated and it is essential to maintain the distinction. This is not to excuse the FS for its overtaxing of its resources. The reason it is important to maintain this distinction is that if citizens view all "forests" as "parks" they will skew their perception of public lands management based upon their visits to and impression of the "parks" which are much higher profile. The real degradation of our public lands has occurred in the forests (and on BLM lands) which are being mined, drilled, logged, and roaded at increasing rates.
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