Mission

Celebrate the Mineral Withdrawal with students who advocated for the protection of the Thompson Divide and engage others to become involved in grassroots community activism.

We flew to the newly protected Thompson Divide, roughly 250,000 acres of pristine public lands that are protected from new oil and gas and mining leasing for the next twenty years!

This protection has been a long time coming and has taken decades of advocacy from local communities, businesses, students, government leaders, and conservation groups. EcoFlight has been flying stakeholders over the Thompson Divide since before 2004, when a coalition came together to fight for the preservation of the Thompson Divide. It has been a joy to showcase the Divide’s beauty and diverse values to Colorado’s congresspeople, governors, county commissioners, and city councilmembers, and to finally celebrate the mineral withdrawal for this beloved place.

We flew past the undeveloped Divide to where oil and gas scars checker the ground. The scale of these impacts can be difficult to conceptualize from ground level, but from the air, the expansive network of well pads becomes clear.

It was inspiring to meet these students and learn how we can all help to protect wild spaces, clean water, and a healthy climate. We encourage the students to share their voices and be a strong advocates for what they believe in. After these flights students prepared a school newsletter with their overflight experience and created social media posts :)

EcoFlight is pleased to provide you with these photos from your flight and this collection of Thompson Divide photos; its pristine condition is a stark contrast to the nearby Piceance Basin.