The Roan Plateau is a plateau in western
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
, USA, in
Garfield County.
[ It contains a variety of natural resources and scenic terrain: high ridges, deep valleys, desert lands, waterfalls, ]cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'' clade) is a clade of four fish species of the Family (biology), family Salmonidae native to cold-water Tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. ...
, mountain lions, bears, rare plants, and oil and natural gas.
In the natural-color image at right the Roan Plateau assumes shades of green, brown, and beige, and deep canyons form branching, tree-like patterns on the landscape, and desert lands in the portions west of Meeker, Craig, and Rifle
A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...
.
Irrigation enables crops to thrive in this largely arid environment, evidenced by the relative greenness of the orchards and lawns around Grand Junction, Colorado
Grand Junction is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and largest city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction's population was 65,560 at the 2020 United St ...
. West of Rifle
A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...
, the high desert terrain begins. Small towns of Battlement Mesa, Parachute
A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...
, and De Beque are all high desert terrain. The land of Grand Junction and all around the city is pale beige, and has high desert terrain. This desert landscape extends west and southwest into Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, and north across the Roan Plateau, and into Wyoming
Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
. The desert land also extends southeast through Whitewater
Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...
, Delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet
* D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...
, Olathe, and Montrose, and then the desert lands end as you pass the Montrose area. East of Grand Junction, however, Grand Mesa (partially obscured by clouds) is well-forested with conifers.
Natural gas
The plateau's energy reserves invite exploration and drilling: existing wells produce natural gas immediately adjacent to the plateau. In 2000 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
began developing the Roan Plateau Resource Management Plan. Released in final form in early 2008, the plan allowed for recovery of natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
from beneath the plateau while setting aside 21,034 acres (85 square kilometers) as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern.
In accordance with the Management Plan, the BLM leased for gas development on the Roan Plateau in August 2008. The winning competitive bids totaled $113.9 million in lease bonuses, a record for a federal onshore lease sale in the lower 48 states. The Colorado state government will receive 49% of the lease bonuses, as well as 49% of subsequent royalties (royalties are 12.5% of the gross value) from gas sales. The lease sale received much criticism from those opposed to development on the plateau, including from Colorado Governor Bill Ritter.[Nick Snow, "Record-breaking Colorado lease sale still falls short," ''Oil & Gas Journal'', 25 August 2008, p.30.]
See also
* Piceance Basin
References
Further reading
Roan Plateau, Colorado
This article incorporates text from this public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
NASA webpage.
Full-size image of Roan Plateau
from NASA Earth Observatory.
External links
BLM Roan Plateau Resource Management Plan and Final EIS
Accessed October 2, 2008.
Center for Native Ecosystems: Roan Plateau
Accessed October 2, 2008.
from National Geographic Magazine
''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
, July 2005. Accessed October 2, 2008.
{{Authority control
Garfield County, Colorado
Colorado Western Slope
Plateaus of Colorado
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from NASA