The Bureau of Land Management got it right in deciding last week to pursue a Master Leasing Plan in Montezuma and western La Plata counties. That call reflects responsiveness to the majority of residents, businesses and local governments that supported such a plan and who maintain that the 2015 Resource Management Plan does not provide adequate protections or guidance for the future development of thousands of gas and oil wells in Southwest Colorado.

That decision, and the public process that supported it, stands in contrast to the agency’s recently finalized redistricting plan that moved the management of BLM lands in San Juan County, Colorado, which is 87 percent public lands, from the Southwest District into the newly renamed Rocky Mountain District. That plan will take effect today and has raised the ire of elected officials and interest groups that believe it will adversely affect local people and the land at the start of a 10-year Superfund process.

Federal agency representatives have a hard job and are used to people not being happy with their decisions. But it is easier to accept those decisions, even if one does not agree with them, for those who have been a part of the process that determines them.

With the MLP, there was a thorough public involvement process involving extensive outreach and hundreds of hours of citizens’ time. Still, it is a tough pill to swallow for opponents of the plan – the gas and oil industry – because a moratorium currently in place will continue until the leasing plan is completed. The lands in question will remain off limits to new development for possibly up to one year.

Plan proponents applauded the decision and the BLM’s responsiveness to expressed concerns. With more than 92 percent of the 820,000 acres of lands with federally controlled minerals currently open to energy development, a pause is warranted. Because there are currently no laws in place that protect recreational assets like Phil’s World and Mesa Verde National Park in the same way wildlife or archaeological resources have laws to protect them, recreation and conservation interests are also pleased the lease planning process will afford them a seat at the table.

The leasing plan will allow the BLM and all stakeholders to do what the Resource Management Plan does not; focus in at a micro-level to allow key recreation, conservation and energy interests to work together up front to determine the most appropriate use of lands, where development activities should and should not occur.

Diverging from this desired, though not required, outreach, San Juan County officials and residents felt blindsided by the BLM’s redistricting decision, in the works for over one year with no communication from the BLM state director. The plan so far has resulted in a half-dozen personnel changes in specific staff, if not number, assigned to the county. The BLM has said some former staff members may continue to work in the county (although now reporting to another office), and that their institutional knowledge, advice and guidance will be available to new staff.

Federal employee changes are fairly common in a system that often requires a move to advance. But in this case, the change may have been unnecessary and is a disruptive one. For now, the trust undergirding all positive working relationships has been shaken. We hope not permanently.