The town of Avon is nestled in the beautiful Vail Valley, nestled between the Holy Cross Wilderness and the rugged, remote Gore Mountain Range. This valley is home to over 50,000 people and draws visitors from around the globe to experience world-class skiing opportunities, as well as hiking, biking, fishing and camping. Our community, along […]
Bureau of Land Management
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government
U.S. Forest Service has built a wild horse pen that could allow it to sell the animals for slaughter
By Scott Sonner, The Associated Press RENO, Nev. — The U.S. Forest Service has built its first corral for wild horses, which could allow it to bypass federal restrictions and sell the animals for slaughter. The agency acknowledged in court filings in a potentially precedent-setting legal battle that it built the new pen in Northern California […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Trump administration again backs off plan for drilling on Colorado public land
The Trump administration is again shelving plans to allow oil and gas drilling on public land in Colorado after complaints from state officials and activists. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Friday some of the land is in big game habitat and some is in the North Fork Valley in western Colorado, where bureau […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Interior Department sets July 1 goal for reorganization that could preempt Bureau of Land Management headquarters move to Colorado
By Dan Elliott, The Associated Press The U.S. Interior Department said Thursday it wants to have its newly reorganized regions up and running by July 1. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s plan calls for realigning the department into 12 unified regions and relocating many decision-makers from Washington to field offices. The department has nine major sub-agencies […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Colorado gets new Bureau of Land Management director with a history of working in the state
Jamie Connell, a veteran land manager with a long history in Colorado, is returning to the state to direct the Bureau of Land Management as the agency grapples with a pending record oil-and-gas lease sale and a growing battle between conservation interests and energy interests. As part of a BLM shuffling by the Interior Department, […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
After hay lures fail, federal officials to use helicopter to herd wild mustangs near Grand Junction
A low-key effort to lure wild horses with hay near Grand Junction will transition to a more forceful attempt to round them up by helicopter this weekend. The federal Bureau of Land Management, already at odds with mustang advocacy groups, plans to begin herding the horses by helicopter on Sunday, an agency spokeswoman said. The […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Clash over wild horses heats up as herds reach highest numbers in program history
GRAND JUNCTION — The trap is set. Jim Dollerschell hides up the pink-dirt hill behind the sagebrush and the pinyon pine, not visible from the corral. A trough of fresh water and piles of grass-hay strewn along the ground will lure the wild horses he is capturing into a ring of metal fencing. And when […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
The $44.2 million pitch: What Grand Junction is doing to land BLM’s headquarters — and what the chances are it will work
The Bureau of Land Management appears closer than ever to relocating its headquarters and some 300 jobs to the West from Washington, D.C. — closer to the nearly 250 million acres of land it manages. Colorado’s congressional delegation has been busy pitching the Centennial State, and Grand Junction in particular, as the best new home address for the agency. […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors
CSU calls off plan to help BLM sterilize wild horses in the field by removing their ovaries
Colorado State University is withdrawing from a controversial research project with the Bureau of Land Management that called for rounding up wild horses by helicopter and then removing their ovaries. The university’s vice president for research made the announcement via email Wednesday, about a week after the end of a 30-day public comment period. It […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors
Federal officials plan to remove the ovaries of wild horses as part of a controversial birth-control roundup — and CSU wants to help them
Researchers at Colorado State University’s veterinary school plan to help the federal Bureau of Land Management sterilize wild horses with a rarely used procedure that involves removing the mares’ ovaries. The proposal, now in a 30-day public comment period, is kicking up a passionate protest from wild-horse advocates who say the surgery is barbaric, will […]