Captains Log February 12, 2008

2-12-08
The good ship N761XE remains at base covered with snow.  Snow that has not stopped falling since mid December.  A great harbinger of a normal winter, run off and snowpack, but a dismal flying season.  So we’ve been grounded and shoveling like madmen to keep our bird ready when the skies clear.

We did get a day’s grace and visit from El Sol a week or so ago and we took to the air with a journalist who was doing a feature on the Roan Plateau for Men’s Journal.  The weather wasn’t great as we dodged around low clouds but we were able to provide Josh McDaniel a good look at the Roan proper and the surrounding private lands. These lands, abutting one of our four most bio diverse areas in Colorado,  are starting to resemble a fully developed oil field like the Jonah field outside of Pinedale, Wyoming.

Prolific trout streams wound their way through huge derricks and geometrically square clearings as the private lands were being turned into what looked like industrial areas.  A remarkable road system leading up to the Roan Plateau with a tunnel at the top gave proof to a long range plan and undeniable access.  

I fly this area every few weeks and the changes are noticeable and intimidating.  

It is up to Governor Ritter of Colorado and our elected senators and congressmen to ensure that the oil industry does not drill the top of the Roan as the people have spoken and the overwhelming public sentiment is to protect the top of the Roan.