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.

December (Q4) 2025 Lease Sale

Draft Environmental Assessment (posted 6/18/2025)

  • Comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) are due 4pm MDT Friday, July 18, 2025. According to the Bureau of Land Management, “there will be no exceptions for late comments.” 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 Colorado December 2025 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 presenting two alternatives for leasing in December 2025. Under the Full Leasing Alternative, the Bureau is proposing to offer 61 parcels / 51,067.87 acres. Under the Modified Leasing Alternative, the Bureau is proposing to offer 60 parcels / 50,987.87 acres. The parcels are in Garfield, Jackson, Mesa, Moffatt, Rio Blanco, and Routt Counties in the Grand Junction, Kremmling, Little Snake, and White River Field Offices in Northern and Western Colorado.
  • Place based conflicts identified include overlaps with:
    • BLM Inventoried Lands with Wilderness Characteristics
    • Grieves Easement State Wildlife Area
    • Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge (Full Leasing Alternative Only)
    • Parcel Adjacent to Black Mountain Roadless Area
    • Parcel within 10 miles of Dinosaur National Monument
    • Old Spanish National Historic Trail
    • Parcels within the North Park Master Leasing Plan area
    • Parcels within the Shale Ridges and Canyons Master Leasing Plan area
  • Animal and plant habitat-based conflicts identified include overlaps with:
    • Priority and general habitat management areas for greater sage-grouse
    • 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
    • Important habitat for bald eagle and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse
    • Occurrences of rare plants: Bessey’s Locoweed (Oxytropis besseyi var. obnapiformis), rock-tansy (Sphaeromeria capitata), southwestern cat’s-eye (Oreocarya mensana) and North Park phacelia (Phacelia formosula)
    • White-tailed prairie dog
  • Note that all parcels are on lands identified by the Bureau of Land Management as having high potential for oil and gas development.
  • Recreational footprint identified by Outdoor Alliance
  • Lease Sale Parcels Draft EA Full Leasing Alternative Google Earth kmz | zipped shapefile
  • Lease Sale Parcels Draft EA Full Leasing Alternative ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.
  • Lease Sale Parcels Draft EA Modified Leasing Alternative Google Earth kmz | zipped shapefile
  • Lease Sale Parcels Draft EA Modified Leasing Alternative ABI Screen

Scoping (posted 2/14/2025)

  • 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.

September (Q3) 2025 Lease Sale

Draft Environmental Assessment (posted 3/14/2025)

  • Comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) are due Monday, April 14, 2025. Comments may be submitted through the links provided to the electronic comment form under the Participate Now or Documents section of the Bureau of Land Management Colorado September 2025 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale ePlanning website. There is more information in the Press Release and BLM Colorado Oil and Gas Lease Sales website.
  • According to the website and documents, BLM is proposing to offer 13 parcels / 12,115 acres in Northeast and Northwest Colorado. The parcels are in Arapaho, Moffatt, Rio Blanco, and Weld Counties in the Royal Gorge and White River Field Offices.
  • Place based conflicts identified include overlaps with:
    • Blair Mtn/Greasewood and North Colorow Lands with Wilderness Characteristics
    • White River Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC)
    • Lower Greasewood Gulch Potential Conservation Area
    • State Wildlife Area
    • Lowry Ranch Comprehensive Area Plan (parcel CO-2025-09-6253)
  • Animal and plant habitat-based conflicts identified include overlaps with:
    • General and priority habitat for greater sage-grouse
    • 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
    • Critical habitat for endangered Colorado pikeminnow identified by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
    • Important habitat for bald eagle
    • Occurrences of rare plants: Fremont’s beardtongue (Penstemon fremontii var. glabrescens) and narrowstem gilia (Gilia stenothyrsa)
  • Note that all parcels are on lands identified by the Bureau of Land Management as having high potential for oil and gas development.
  • Lease Sale Parcels Draft EA Google Earth kmz | zipped shapefile
  • Lease Sale Parcels Draft EA ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

Scoping (posted 11/15/2024)

Resources

*The Research Map doesn’t work in all web browsers. I was able to successfully access the map in the Firefox browser on a PC on 6/17/2024.