Colorado Upcoming Oil and Gas Lease Sales

The Oil and Gas Lease Sales map below shows parcels proposed to be offered for lease by the Bureau of Land Management. This interactive map shows current and upcoming lease sales and their conflicts with wildlife and natural areas. More information on upcoming leases is shown below the map.

Advice on how to use the map: Zoom in for more detail. Select the layer list icon in the upper left, expand and turn on conservation_conflicts and other layers and sublayers. Click on parcels or conservation conflict areas for more information. Scroll through pop-ups for multiple overlapping areas by clicking on the right triangle/arrow.

Click here for full screen map

June (Q2) 2026 Lease Sale

Scoping (posted 12/9/2025)

  • The Preliminary Parcel List for the June 2026 oil and gas lease sale was shared by the Colorado Bureau of Land Management on December 9, 2025. This started a 30-day comment period. The comment period closes Thursday, January 8, 2026.
  • Comments can be submitted through the links provided to the electronic comment form under the Participate Now or Documents section of the Bureau of Land Management CO June 2026 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale ePlanning website. Additional information is available in the Press Release and on the BLM Colorado Oil and Gas Lease Sales web site.
  • According to the website and documents, the Bureau is proposing to offer 174 parcels / 160,628.06 acres. The parcels are in Arapahoe, Garfield, Gunnison, Jackson, Mesa, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt and Weld Counties in the Colorado River Valley, Grand Junction, Little Snake, Kremmling, Royal Gorge, and White River Field Offices across Colorado.
  • This is the largest oil and gas sale ever proposed in Colorado that we know of.
  • Place based conflicts identified include overlaps with:
    • Black Mountain and Windy Gulch Wilderness Study Areas (WSA)
    • BLM Inventoried Lands with Wilderness Characteristics
    • Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs)
    • Dinosaur Trails, North Park, and South Shale Ridge Master Leasing Plan (MLP)
    • Parcels within 10 miles of Dinosaur National Monument
    • Parcels Adjacent to Arapaho National Wildlife Area
    • Parcels Adjacent to Forest Service Roadless Areas
  • Animal and plant habitat-based conflicts identified include overlaps with:
    • Priority and general habitat management areas and lek sites for greater sage-grouse
    • Designated critical habitat for ESA endangered Colorado pikeminnow and ESA threatened Parachute penstemon (Penstemon debilis).
    • Proposed critical habitat for Graham’s and White River penstemon
    • Cutthroat trout crucial habitat designated by Colorado Parks and Wildlife
    • High Priority Habitat (migratory and winter habitats) for Big Game (elk, mule deer, and pronghorn) identified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife
    • High priority production (breeding and lambing) areas for bighorn sheep identified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife
    • Important habitat for bald eagle, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, and lesser prairie chicken.
    • Occurrences of many rare plants including (but not limited to) ESA threatened Parachute Penstemon (Penstemon debilis) and Piceance twinpod (Physaria obcordata)
    • Occurrences of many rare animals including (but not limited to) state endangered boreal toad, ESA endanged and state threatened Colorado pikeminnow, and state special concern Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, ferruginous hawk, greater sage-grouse, swift fox
    • Potential conservation areas identified by Colorado Natural Heritage Program
    • White-tailed prairie dog (current or historic active colonies)
  • Note that all parcels are in areas identified as medium or high potential for oil and gas development.
  • Additional conflicts include overlaps with the human-powered recreation footprint identified by Outdoor Alliance
  • Lease Sale Parcels Scoping Google Earth kmz | zipped shapefile
  • Lease Sale Parcels Scoping ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

March 31, (Q1) 2026 Lease Sale

Sale Notice (posted 1/30/2026)

  • The Sale Notice and updated Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the March 2026 oil and gas lease sale is now available. This started a 30-day comment period. The comment period closes Monday, March 2, 2026. The sale is scheduled to occur on March 31, 2026. There is important information about how to protest on the CO March 2026 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale ePlanning website and in the Sale Notice that can be downloaded from that site. Additional information is available in the Press Release and on the BLM Colorado Oil and Gas Lease Sales web site.
  • According to the website and documents, the Bureau is proposing to offer 90 parcels / 52,703.36 acres. The parcels are in Arapahoe, Baca, Delta, Garfield, Gunnison, Jackson, Las Animas, Mesa, Rio Blanco, Routt and Weld Counties in the Grand Junction, Kremmling, Royal Gorge, Uncompahgre, and White River Field Offices across Colorado.
  • Place based conflicts identified include overlaps with:
    • BLM Inventoried Lands with Wilderness Characteristics
    • Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs)
    • Dinosaur Trails and North Park Master Leasing Plan (MLP) areas
    • Parcels Adjacent to and slightly overlapping Forest Service Roadless Areas
  • Animal and plant habitat-based conflicts identified include overlaps with:
    • Priority and general habitat management areas for greater sage-grouse
    • Designated critical habitat for ESA endangered Colorado pikeminnow.
    • Aquatic High Priority Habitat identified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife
    • High Priority Habitat (migratory and winter habitats) for Big Game (elk, mule deer, and pronghorn) identified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife
    • High priority production (breeding and fawning/lambing) areas for elk and bighorn sheep identified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife
    • Important habitat for bald eagle, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, and lesser prairie chicken.
    • Occurrences of rare plants: bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva), debris milkvetch (Astragalus detritalis), Dudley Bluffs bladderpod (Physaria congesta), North Park phacelia (Phacelia formosula), Rocky Mountain Thistle (Cirsium perplexans), and Texas greasebush (Forsellesia planitierum).
    • Occurrences of rare animals: black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), gray vireo (Vireo vicinior), McCown’s longspur (Calcarius mccownii), and Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens)
    • Potential conservation areas identified by Colorado Natural Heritage Program
    • White-tailed prairie dog overall range
  • Additional Conflicts include
    • Lands identified by Bureau of Land Management as having low potential for oil and gas development:
      • 1 parcel/881 acres (CO-2026-03-0235) that is not within 5 miles of producing wells (parcel may be near producing wells in Nebraska)
      • The parcels in Las Animas County (4 Parcels/1,807 acres) are in an area identified as having low potential for oil and gas development but are likely targeted for hydrogen development.
      • 9 additional parcels/4,691 acres are in or overlap areas with low oil and gas development potential but are within 5 miles of producing wells
    • Human-powered recreation footprint identified by Outdoor Alliance
  • Lease Sale Parcels Sale Notice Google Earth kmz | zipped shapefile
  • Lease Sale Parcels Sale Notice ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

Draft Environmental Assessment (posted 11/12/2025)

Scoping (posted 9/2/2025)

Resources