Outdoors crowd is vocal on energy

RIFLE, Colo. — Outdoors guide Keith Goddard remembers when he could go for hours or even days and not see another person on top of western Colorado's Roan Plateau.

"Up until a few years ago, you could stand right here all day long, and if you'd seen one or two vehicles, you'd seen a bunch," Goddard said, peering from a field of wildflowers to rocky, wooded slopes below.

As he spoke, three 18-wheelers sped by in a noisy reminder of the natural gas boom many expect to get even bigger in this stretch of land 180 miles west of Denver. It is prized by both energy companies and by people like Goddard, a 42-year-old member of the so-called "hook and bullet" crowd that is wielding more and more clout when it comes to managing public land — clout that's being noticed by industry officials and politicians on both sides of the aisle.

Fearing that energy development sweeping through the Rockies could permanently scar the landscape, hunters and anglers are forming alliances with environmental groups like The Wilderness Society and Sierra Club.

The two sides, who have sparred in the past, are trying to protect such areas as northern Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, Wyoming's Jack Morrow Hills and New Mexico's Valle Vidal.

Standing on the Roan, where there are already some 30 natural gas wells on private land, Goddard said he doesn't want his favorite hunting ground developed, but sees it as inevitable. He said he just hopes the impact is minimized and drilling is banned in the most wild and environmentally sensitive areas.

"If they do it heavy-scale and take a shotgun approach on the Roan and it's real tight density and spacing, it will put us out of business and it will disperse the deer and elk herds," Goddard said.

The Roan Plateau, which straddles two Colorado counties, generates an estimated $5 million a year for the local economy from hunting, fishing and wildlife watching, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

It could also provide enough natural gas for 4 million homes for the next 20 years, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association trade group. Canadian-based Encana Corp. and Williams Cos., based in Tulsa, Okla., are among the companies drilling on private land on the plateau.

Trout Unlimited, a group historically focused on the nation's trout and salmon fisheries, recently toured the plateau before the Bureau of Land Management releases its final environmental impact statement — in essence, the management options — for drilling public land in the area. That report is expected next month.