In 2001, President Clinton, responding to resounding public demand, granted administrative protection to more than 58 million acres of undeveloped but unprotected national forest backcountry, mostly in the West. Colorado alone has 4.1 million acres of these “inventoried roadless areas” (IRAs).
IRA protection is a high priority for CO BHA because roads damage watersheds, fisheries and fishing, wildlife habitat and hunting, as well as inviting motorized abuse and noxious weed invasion. The 2001 rule is thus the most significant sportsman-friendly conservation act in recent history.
In May of 2005, the Bush Administration administratively overturned the 2001 rule and instructed governors to petition USDA by November, 2006 with their preferences for IRA protection in their states. In response, Colorado created a 13-member “bipartisan” task force (a bad joke, considering the 2-1 ratio of pro-developers to pro-roadless members) to conduct public meetings statewide and draft recommendations for the Governor.
In the end, more than 90 percent of public comments were in favor of maximum roadless protections. In response, the lopsided task force sent then-Gov. Owens a compromise petition, which, while providing significant roadless protections in response to public comment, contained several serious flaws crafted to please various industry interests — coal mining, skiing, timber, and grazing.
Ironically, just as the task force was finishing its work, a federal court threw out the Bush maneuver, calling it illegal, and reinstated the 2001 Rule, which remains the law of the land at this writing, though under relentless legal attack by pro-development and motorized interests.
In 2007, Owens was replaced by Gov. Bill Ritter, an avid fly fisherman who courted and won the support of state sportsmen during his campaign. Even so, and though CO BHA and others strongly urged Ritter to drop the Owens petition in favor of the far more protective 2001 Rule, he submitted it to the USDA with only minor revisions.
Which brings us up to date. For months now, Colorado and the Forest Service have been locked in Rulemaking - yet another long, expensive, and painful process whose end goal is a signed document giving Colorado its own roadless protections. The only other state to have gone this route is Idaho. If and when these two state petitions become law, Colorado and Idaho will have gone to the most trouble, spent the most money, suffered the greatest internal controversy ... and have the weakest roadless protections in the West.
From the very beginning, CO BHA has been a leader in representing the interests of conservation-minded sportsmen and women in protecting our state’s unspoiled non-wilderness backcountry. As the process continues, we will remain active, keep you informed, and seek your help in making the best of a bad deal. For now, you can learn more by reading Where the Wildlands Are: Colorado, a publication of Trout Unlimited’s Public Lands Initiative, our closest ally in roadless areas protection.
