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BLM outlines RMP amendment; two Ouray County areas (Sims Mesa, Chaney Creek) under review as ACECs
Summary
A Bureau of Land Management manager briefed the board on a targeted resource-management-plan amendment that will analyze oil-and-gas leasing, lands with wilderness character, and areas of critical environmental concern; in Ouray County the draft plan includes nominations for ACECs at Sims Mesa (Gunnison sage grouse) and Chaney Creek (big-game habitat).
Dan Ben Orinfield, manager for the Bureau of Land Management's Uncompahgre Field Office, visited the Feb. 25 Ouray County work session to summarize a planned amendment to the BLM's resource-management plan affecting the region.
Orinfield said the amendment focuses on three topics: oil-and-gas leasing, lands with wilderness characteristics, and areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs). He told the commissioners the amendment is narrower than a full plan revision and that cooperating agencies (including Ouray County) had a closed cooperator review period; the BLM expects to publish a draft for public comment later this winter or early spring, followed by a 90-day public comment period.
In Ouray County the draft amendment analyzes two nominated ACECs: Sims Mesa, put forward to protect Gunnison sage-grouse habitat, and Chaney Creek, nominated to protect deer and elk habitat adjacent to Billy Creek State Wildlife Area. Orinfield said there is relatively little BLM surface land in Ouray County and so the overall effects of the targeted amendment are expected to be limited; the BLM is coordinating cooperator and public review and will aim for a proposed amendment document in early 2027.
Commissioners asked about oil-and-gas potential and geothermal interest; the BLM manager said he had not seen recent leasing activity in the county and that seismic/mapping and split-estate complexities mean the issue should be tracked but is not presently a major pressure in Ouray County.
Orinfield offered to provide follow-up briefings to county staff on ACEC boundaries, management tools, and next steps for public comment.
