Where is the Roan Plateau and why is it famous?

Answer 1

The Roan Plateau is in western Colorado, about 25 miles west of Glenwood Springs. Rising 3,000 feet above the Colorado River valley, the Roan Plateau is one of the area's last areas of public lands not yet leased for oil and gas drilling. The Roan Plateau includes one of Colorado's tallest waterfalls, genetically pure strains of rare native trout, and plants that are known to occur only here. The area teems with wildlife and is popular for hunting, fishing, camping, and other types of recreation. The lands are grazed by livestock by ranchers who have public land permits.

The Roan Plateau is part of the Piceance Basin, one of North America's largest natural gas plays. Massive levels of oil and gas drilling are occurring all around the Roan Plateau, where 95% of the public lands managed by the US Dept of Interior Bureau of Land Management are already leased for this activity. Since 2000, the BLM has been in a planning process for a portion of the Roan Plateau, pushing under the priorities of the Bush Administration to open these lands to drilling. Public sentiment strongly opposes drilling the unleased public lands of the natural Roan Plateau, and a strong, local effort has developed to protect these popular public lands.

Transferred from the US Department of Energy to the BLM in 1997, the Roan Plateau planning area is actually part of a much larger feature, also called the Roan Plateau that stretches from eastern Utah to its dramatic conclusion in the area often called "Roan Plateau," more accurately the Roan Plateau Planning Area. Half the lands in the RPPA is already leased or owned outright by the energy companies, and development has recently exploded across these lands. But the core portion of the Roan's public lands remain natural and unleased, and these are the center of the effort to save Roan Plateau. More info at saveroanplateau.org