It seems perfect that we have all the oil we need for the next hundred years right in our own backyard.

That backyard, however, is literally my backyard. I grew up in western Colorado virtually on top of where this treasure waits for us. It is my home, along with hundreds of thousands of other people. We live here for the slow pace of life, for the clean air, the pronghorn and mule deer outside our living room windows, the cold, clear rivers and the simple beauty of this land. For people who have not seen this area, it may seem an easy trade but we who live here ask that the nation proceeds slowly on oil shale.

In Canada we’ve seen tar sands development (similar to oil shale) rip up large swaths of wildlife habitat, leaving it a virtual moonscape. In the US, new technologies are being tested to extract oil from shale rock while it is still underground. However, too many questions still remain about the environmental impacts of oil shale development, the largest of which is how much water it will use.

Water is vital to your life, my life and the lives of every creature on this earth. Water is also one resource we just cannot produce more of. Right now, the amount of water needed to develop oil shale will drain the habitats of native fish, destroy agricultural communities and put us all at risk. Ways to reduce the amount of water needed to develop oil shale are on the way and we need to wait for them before gambling on this precious resource.

We all use oil and know its importance even as we explore new, alternative fuel sources. And, with such a large prize waiting beneath us, oil shale promises to remain a potential energy source well into the foreseeable future. But for now, we need to be patient and not put the homes and water of thousands of Americans and wildlife unnecessarily at risk.

There’s still work to do on oil shale and other public lands issues! Please spread the word about public lands with an eCard!

See what tar sands development looks like in Canada: National Geographic – The Canadian Oil Boom

If you’re like me and value the beauty of public lands, the wildlife they support and recreation opportunities they provide, you may sometimes wonder what you can do to help protect these special places. While calling and sending letters to your political leaders is always a good idea, the National Wildlife Federation is giving us another way to support public lands.

They just finished designing and printing all organic, public lands T-shirts. Their goal is to spread the word  about public lands by having people all over the country wear these shirts in support of public lands. All proceeds from the shirts will go to support the public lands work of the National Wildlife Federation.

There’s a shirt for everyone! See the entire collection of shirts and colors…

Many people don’t know about National Wildlife Federation’s public lands program, which is based in the Rocky Mountain Regional Center in Boulder, Colorado. Lately, a majority of the work has been focused around the recent energy boom in the West and helping to ensure we balance energy extraction with wildlife protection.

Recently, public lands won a huge victory when a court ruled that plans to drill for oil and gas development on New Mexico’s Otero Mesa ignored the protection of key wildlife habitat and groundwater. Otero Mesa is one of most biologically rich and diverse desert ecosystems in the world and was at significant risk from drilling.

The National Wildlife Federation was a key player in this effort to protect the wildlife habitat and water of Otero Mesa. With your support we can all continue to protect these special places for generations to come.

Over the last five years, it’s been one thing after another threatening to take the character and beauty from our public lands. From fossil fuel development occurring at an unprecedented rate and conducted rashly and irresponsibly to dirty mining and threats to sell-off public lands for short term gains, public lands have been abused and all but forgotten as the national treasure they truly are.

Almost 1/3 of the United States is public lands — lands held in trust by all Americans that provide vital habitat for our wildlife, clean water and open space for recreation. They are also lands we will pass on to our children, and our children’s children to experience.

Last week the senate passed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, which contains more than 160 separate public lands bills, most of which will expand the protection of our public lands. The Act will provide the largest expansion of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 15 years, designating 2.1 million acres of permanent wilderness in nine states — California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Michigan, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Another one of the bills in the package — the National Landscape Conservation System Act — will provide permanent protection for the first new system of conservation lands in the United States in more than 50 years. Under the National Landscape Conservation System Act, over 850 federally recognized areas covering 27 million acres of the Bureau of Land Management’s most spectacular land and waters will be protected permanently.

The Act now moves to House of Representatives, which is expected to consider it in the coming weeks. Visit www.OurPublicLands.org for more information.

• Write It! – Submit your slogan. The slogan should emphasize the importance of public lands, inspire others to visit or protect public lands and be short enough to fit on a t-shirt.
• Wear It! – Donate and get a T-shirt with the winning slogan
• Snap It! – Submit photos of you, your friends and family wearing your public lands T-shirt on public lands and answer the question: “Why do you protect public lands?” The top (2) winning photos and stories will be featured in an ad that will run in a major national outdoors magazine. The winner will also receive a year’s subscription to the magazine.
• Boast It! – The winners of both the slogan and photo portions of the contest will have full bragging rights, but for all other contestants, there’s no need to despair. We will be prominently displaying a virtual billboard of all photo entries on the homepage of our website where you can direct all your family and friends.

So how do you do all of this!? Glad you asked…Try this easy to use web widget that will keep you updated with information on the contest. Then click Share It! and post it to your facebook, MySpace, blog or any where you want your friends and family to see it. Show people you care about public lands and get them involved in the contest.