It's not often that folks can get a bird's eye view of the largest flat top in the world but, many did earlier this month, thanks to Aspen based EcoFlight and Citizens for a Healthy Community located in Paonia, Colorado.
This year, EcoFlight provided ten flights over the North Fork Valley and Grand Mesa to view low to high potential areas for future oil and gas development. The route over Grand Mesa, which rises to an elevation over 10,000 feet, highlighted its 500 square miles of majestic landscape and 300 plus lakes.
“It's a completely different experience to see the areas that serve as our watershed and our regional recreation and all of the benefits that we get from the Grand Mesa," said long-time Cedaredge resident Dea Jacobson, who took the early morning flight and provided some local perspective on the Mesa.
“The Grand Mesa, in and of itself, geologically and historically, is an unstable body of land because it is just covered with lakes and under those lakes are aquifers and forests. It’s just a big sponge that provides the water to the north end of the valley, running from the North Fork all the way to Grand Junction and then and picks up Cedaredge with the drainages coming off of the mesa that that irrigate the farms and the springs that both irrigate and provide domestic water,” said Jacobson.
Critical water from the Grand Mesa feeds the Colorado River, provides biodiversity and offers outdoor recreation. Currently, the mesa lies within a high development potential area for oil and gas and is at risk for new leasing by the Bureau of Land Management.
Jacobson says she hopes the BLM will conduct a geological study of the mesa before any development is allowed, “The decisions that need to be made on the mesa prior to any kind of drilling rely upon a more comprehensive and updated analysis of the geological formations on the mesa and how that impacts water.”
Citizens for a Healthy Community Executive Director Natasha Leger and EcoFlight pilot Bruce Gordon narrated the 45 minute flight, which took off from the North Fork Valley Airport outside of Paonia. Thanks to a grant from the West Elk Community Fund, the two nonprofits provided this year's educational flight for community members ranging from water managers, new and old residents, hikers, media, farmers and elected officials.
“The purpose of the EcoFlight in particular this year was to bring awareness to the areas around the North Fork Valley in the Grand Mesa that are designated high developmental potential for oil and gas development by the Bureau of Land Management,” said Leger, Executive Director for Citizens for a Healthy Community.
The flight also included an aerial view of parts of Gunnison County where about 100,000 acres now have leases. Flight participants also viewed the low and moderate potential areas on the North Fork Valley floor. With the increase in global warming, especially in Delta County, Leger says the flights are taking on a new significance.
“The climate change impacts and the impacts that that has on our water resources, which unites us all as a community. And so we need to be moving forward with actions that are cognizant of and acknowledging that we are at ground zero for climate change.”
Leger says it's also important for residents to know that the BLM recently approved new oil and gas leasing rules, which give preference to areas such as the Upper North Fork Valley and Grand Mesa.
“We are advocating for the BLM to close off all those minerals to oil and gas leasing so as to protect the North Fork Valley and Grand Mesa watersheds and landscapes,” said Leger.
If the area covered by the Eagle flight was fully developed, the Bureau of Land Management estimates it would have 958 wells in the region's watershed and mountain landscapes. Leger says the International Energy Agency stated two years ago that the United States currently has enough oil and gas leases to meet future demands without any further leasing.
