A local organization of top level officials from government and industry, along with private citizens, is planning a public forum event aimed at correcting bad information and unfounded fears surrounding the BLM's planned August gas lease sale in the North Fork Valley.

The organization, known as the Natural Gas Collaborative Group, is comprised of Delta and Gunnison County elected officials, county administrators, representatives from federal and state public lands agencies, top management from exploration and production companies operating in this area, and environmentalists.

At the group's quarterly meeting on Jan. 25 in Montrose, a steering committee was formed and planning began for a forum intended to provide factual information for the public about natural gas drilling.

"A good, informative, educational public forum would be mind-relieving for people in the North Fork," said Barb Sharrow, manager of the BLM'S Uncompahgre Field Office (UFO).

The Natural Gas Collaborative Group has tentatively set March 3 at Hotchkiss High School as the date and place for its forum. Other details will be worked out in time for advance notice to be given.

The Natural Gas Collaborative Group is willing to facilitate the forum; but, in the words of one member the event will be "regulator driven." In other words, it won't be an industry show. Presentations or information from government agencies responsible for regulating gas exploration and production, including the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), would be the event's intended focus.

The BLM and UFO are already working towards an August auction of 22 minerals lease tracts between Crawford and Paonia spanning the Delta/Gunnison county line. The proposal has created much anxiety among some area residents and environmental issue advocates.

"In the last six weeks we have seen that there is a lot of misinformation in the North Fork Valley," explained Sharrow. "There are people who have literally put their houses on the market for sale because of their fear of drilling rigs."

Despite North Fork area public forums hosted by various community interests in recent weeks, misinformation is still circulating widely. Sarah Sauter, director of the Paonia-based NFRIA-WSERC environmental group, said that some other, unnamed environmental group was planning even more activities. "They (the unnamed group) have the hearts and minds of some pretty nervous people in the valley," Sauter said at the Jan. 25 Montrose meeting. "The majority of people who are scared are listening to that other group."

Sauter reported that a public demonstration by opponents of natural gas exploration was also being planned for Feb. 9, deadline for the first round of comments on the UFO's lease sale proposal. The gathering would take place at the Montrose BLM field office, Sauter said.

On the opposite side of the issue, Sharrow reported that her office has also been getting "a lot of really good, specific comments" on the gas lease proposal. "We are getting what we need."

She added that people with bad information who are contacting her office seem to be most concerned in three broad areas: water, fracking, and traffic. The March 3 forum being planned will likely be structured to focus on those same three issues.