Colorado Upcoming Oil and Gas Lease Sales

The Oil & 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 to see conservation conflicts. 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.

June 24, 2021 Lease Sale

Scoping (posted 12/29/2020)

  • The scoping public comment period for the June 24, 2021 oil and gas lease sale closes at 4:00 PM Wednesday, January 13, 2021. Comments must be submitted through the Participate Now link on the CO BLM June 2021 Oil & Gas Lease Sale ePlanning website. Additional information about the sale can be found on the Press Release and the BLM Colorado Oil and Gas Lease Sales website.
  • According to the website and documents, BLM Colorado is proposing to offer 34 parcels/34,252.34 acres in the June Sale. 25 parcels/26,347.45 acres in Las Animas County in the Royal Gorge Field Office, 6 parcels/5,062.7 acres in Moffat and Routt Counties in the Little Snake Field Office, and 3 parcels/2,842.19 acres in Rio Blanco counties in the White River Field Office.
  • Significant Conservation Conflicts Include:
    • Lands identified by BLM and by conservation organizations as having wilderness characteristics
    • Potential Conservation Areas identified by Colorado Natural Heritage Program as having very high biodiversity significance
    • Dinosaur Trails Master Leasing Plan Area
    • State Wildlife Areas and State Trust Lands
    • Proposed critical habitat for White River penstemon (Penstemon scariosus var. albifluvis)
    • Important habitat for bald eagle, black-tailed prairie dog, Colombian sharp-tailed grouse, and greater sage-grouse (including priority habitat management areas)
    • High priority production (lambing) habitat for bighorn sheep
    • High priority migration, production (fawning), and winter habitat for elk
    • High priority migration and winter habitat for mule deer
    • Human-powered Recreation Footprint 1/4-mile buffer as identified by Outdoor Alliance
  • Lease Sale Parcels Scoping: Google Earth (kmz) | GIS Data (zipped shapefile)
  • Lease Sale Scoping ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

March 25, 2021 Lease Sale

Environmental Assessment (posted 11/13/2020)

  • The public comment period for the Environmental Assessments (EAs) for the March 25, 2021 oil and gas lease sale ends Monday, December 14, 2020. Comments must be submitted through the Participate Now! links on the Royal Gorge Field Office March 2021 Oil & Gas Lease Sale ePlanning website and on the Northwest Colorado District March 2021 Oil & Gas Lease Sale ePlanning website. Additional information about the sale can be found on the Press Release, March 2021 Oil & Gas Lease Sale ePlanning website, and the BLM Colorado Oil and Gas Lease Sales website.
  • According to the website and documents, BLM Colorado is proposing to offer 83 parcels/111,340.320 acres in Jackson, Las Animas, Moffat, Rio Blanco, and Weld Counties in the Kremmling, Little Snake, Royal Gorge, and White River field offices.
    • Kremmling Field Office: 2 parcels/200.00 acres
    • Little Snake: 20 parcels/ 26,963.87 acres
    • Royal Gorge Field Office: 60 parcels/84,096 acres
    • White River: 1 parcel/80.15 acres
  • Additional parcels are proposed to be offered in the San Juan and White River National Forests, see more information below.
  • Significant Conservation Conflicts Include:
    • North Park Master Leasing Plan area
    • Santa Fe Historic Trail
    • Colorado State Wildlife Areas (Chancellor Ranch STL – SLB, Johnny Moore Mountain STL, Vermillion Hunting Lease)
    • Lands identified by BLM as having Wilderness Characteristics (Beaver Slide Draw, Blair Mountain/Greasewood. Coffeepot Spring, Dougout Draw, Eagle Rock Draw, North Fork Sand Wash, Racetrack Flat, Sheepherders Draw, Vermillion Bluffs, Yellow Cat Wash)
    • Colorado Natural Heritage Program Potential Conservation Areas with very high biodiversity significance (Bruno Canyon, Purgatoire Canyon, Purgatoire Prairie)
    • Habitat for greater sage-grouse including priority habitat management areas and areas within 4 miles of a lek
    • Important areas for bald eagle, black-tailed prairie dog, and white-tailed prairie dog (including a recorded occurrence)
    • Occurrence of BLM sensitive plant rock-tansy (Sphaeromeria capitata)
    • Occurrence of gray vireo (Vireo vicinior)
    • Migration corridor for pronghorn
    • Calving areas for elk and lambing areas for bighorn sheep
    • Important winter areas for elk and pronghorn
    • Human-powered recreation footprint 1/4-mile buffer as identified by Outdoor Alliance
  • Lease Sale Parcels EA: Google Earth (kmz) | GIS Data (zipped shapefile)
  • Lease Sale EA ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

Environmental Assessment US Forest Service Only (posted 10/27/2020)

  • An Environmental Assessment was done for parcels on National Forests and National Grasslands. These parcels were not including in the Scoping Information. A separate Environmental Assessment is being prepared for the parcels in the Scoping Information (expected November 13).
  • The Comment Period for the Forest Service Environmental Assessment (EA) ends Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Comments must be submitted through the Participate Now! links on the Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale Parcels in the White River and San Juan National Forests and the Pawnee National Grassland ePlanning website. The EA document is also available on that website. Additional information about the sale can be found on the BLM Colorado Oil and Gas Lease Sales website.
  • According to the website, 16 parcels/4,493 acres are proposed to be offered in Archuleta, Garfield, La Plata, and Weld Counties on the San Juan and White River National Forests and Pawnee National Grasslands.
    • San Juan National Forest: 10 parcels/2,563.16 acres
    • Pawnee National Grasslands: 5 parcels/1,522.56 acres
    • White River National Forest: 1 parcel/407.28
  • More parcels are proposed to be offered in the BLM Royal Gorge Field Office and Northwest Colorado District. See more information above.
  • Significant conservation conflicts include:
    • Waters important for cutthroat trout and other native species
    • Areas important for bald eagle, McCown’s longspur, and plains sharp-tailed grouse
    • Important habitat for Canada lynx, overall range for Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, and areas likely to have black-tailed prairie dog colonies
    • Area identified as a big game corridor priority region including identified migration corridors for elk and mule deer, winter concentration areas for elk, mule deer, and pronghorn, and severe wintner range for elk and mule deer.
    • National Forest Roadless Areas (HD Mountains and Mamm Peak)
    • Old Spanish National Historic Trail
    • Parcels within 10 miles of Chimney Rocky National Monument
  • USFS Lease Sale Parcels EA: Google Earth (kmz) | GIS Data (zipped shapefile)
  • USFS Lease Sale EA ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

Scoping (posted 10/2/2020)

Lease Sale Parcels Scoping: Google Earth (kmz) | GIS Data (zipped shapefile); ABI Screen

December 17, 2020 Lease Sale

Sale Notice (posted 10/19/2020)

Environmental Assessments (posted 8/14/2020) Lease Sale Parcels EA: GIS Data (zipped shapefile) | Google Earth (kmz); ABI Screen.

Scoping (posted 6/30/2020) Lease Sale Parcels Scoping: GIS Data (zipped shapefile) | Google Earth (kmz); Lease sale scoping period ABI Screen.

Resources

*Existing leases data from BLM National Oil and Gas Leases Polygons updated 12/9/2020 and acquired from BLM Navigator on 12/21/2020. Data was modified by Rocky Mountain Wild by extracting one state, changing the projection, adding expiration date data from the BLM Land & Mineral System Reports (LR2000), and removing leases no longer authorized as of 12/21/2020. Additional disclaimers are in the metadata associated with BLM’s data.