The Bureau of Land Management is deferring all parcels associated with the August oil and gas lease sale in the North Fork Valley.
“BLM has opted to conduct additional analysis of the proposed lease parcels based on public input,” the agency said in a press release today.
Reached by telephone this afternoon, Shannon Borders, spokeswoman for the BLM in Montrose, said officials there had no additional comment.
The North Fork Valley is home to one of the highest concentrations of organic farms in Colorado and is one of just two designated wine regions in the state. Wildlife also thrives there.
A delegation of local business owners and residents in the North Fork Valley recently went to Washington, D.C., urging federal officials to withdraw the leases. Protestors also took to the ESPN Winter X Games in Aspen and other…