Wild Works Newsletter Summer 2019
Victory in court for local public lands! Judge agrees with WW: BLM must consider climate impacts of oil and gas development
WW recently won an important victory in Federal District Court. A lawsuit filed by WW with the Western Environmental Law Center, Western Colorado Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club challenged BLM’s 2015 Resource Management Plan (the plan) for the Colorado River Valley Field Office (CRVFO). The suit contested the plan’s prioritization of oil and gas development over all other uses, as well as BLM’s failure to consider the climate impacts of drilling thousands of new gas wells on our local public lands. BLM’s plan left the vast majority of the Field Office open to oil and gas leasing [...]
City of Aspen agrees to no dams in designated wilderness area
The city of Aspen has reached an agreement with five opposing parties in water court over the municipal government's plans to reserve the right to build dams on Maroon and Castle creeks. Two of the opposers, Wilderness Workshop and Western Resource Advocates, announced the settlement Thursday evening. Will Roush, conservation director at Wilderness Workshop, commended the city for finding another way to store its water other than in a designated wilderness area. "It's a big deal. … Everybody came to a consensus that these were not the right places for dams," he said. Read Full Article >>
Shoemaker steps down at Wilderness Workshop, Roush to fill his shoes
In what the organization is calling a “bittersweet moment,” Wildness Workshop Executive Director Sloan Shoemaker announced his resignation from the position last week — but although the news marks the end of a 21-year run in that role, it doesn’t mean the end of Shoemaker’s involvement with the Carbondale conservation nonprofit. Currently, he’s working to ease the transition for Will Roush, who will be promoted from his current position of conservation director in September. “It’s not really up to me where the organization goes,” Shoemaker said of his new responsibilities at Wilderness Workshop. “I have to let go. But how I’m [...]
Forest Service cuts acreage for logging project near Ruedi Reservoir
In response to objections filed earlier this year, the U.S. Forest Service is removing nearly 130 acres of aspens from a logging project east of Ruedi Reservoir and will limit the time trucks can use Frying Pan Road through Basalt. District Ranger Karen Schroyer said Monday in the final decision for the Upper Fryingpan Vegetation Management Project that logging would be allowed on 1,631 acres, down from 1,759 acres previously planned. She said the decision was based on conversations with Carbondale-based conservation group Wilderness Workshop and the Forest Service will not allow cutting on three units. In its objection to the plan, Wilderness Workshop [...]