The e-mail that drifted in through the ether was, in contrast to certain others, polite and concise.
It’s author, 70 years old, wrote in opposition to the current proposal to protect 4.4 million acres of Colorado’s finest wild lands from the construction of roads. His argument was personal and to the point: He couldn’t hunt these untamed lands without a road.
Little matter that said track would render them no longer wild. Or even that more than half of Colorado’s national forest acreage already is laced with more mechanized access than anyone could utilize in a dozen lifetimes. In a certain mind-set, the outdoor resource isn’t worth much unless you can drive to it and unfold a lawn chair. Apart from this geriatric concern, the argument against roadless protection boils down to the commercial quartet of oil, gas, timber and mining, along with the usual whine from those who don’t want to get off their fat ATVs.
On the other hand, we have the surety that an added lattice of roads will further diminish Colorado’s wildlife habitat – clogging streams with more sediment while pushing deer and elk farther back into a shrinking wilderness.
These are the issues being debated in Denver on Friday and again Feb. 24 as part of a Roadless Task Force determination whether these unmarked lands will be preserved in their natural states. At issue is an executive order during the Clinton administration establishing an inventory of roadless areas across the nation.
Rather than continue this designation, President Bush opted to allow each state its own determination. Many Western governors, realizing the intrinsic and lasting value of wild lands, embraced the Clinton order. Colorado’s Bill Owens, who owns the most woeful environmental record of the last half- century, did not.
A 13-member committee teetering uneasily between developers and protectionists has been debating for months the fate of lands within the Pike- San Isabel, San Juan, Gunnison, Uncompahgre and Grand Mesa national forests.
The noon to 6 p.m. Friday meeting at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, 1313 Sherman St., concerns the Pike- San Isabel and San Juan and is open to public observation, but no commentary. The 2-6 p.m. Feb. 24 event at the Adam’s Mark Hotel, 1550 Court Place, will entertain public testimony on the entire process statewide.
Thus far, testimony has been running about 3-1 in favor of protection, mostly from sportsmen who realize the intrinsic value of wild places for reproduction, winter range and escape cover.
Virtually every wildlife or conservation organization has rallied for roadless, most notably Trout Unlimited, which last month issued a landmark report emphasizing the connection between successful hunting and fishing and the preservation of wild places.
The report demonstrates a direct link between wild areas and the survival of native trout, as well as the fact that the best trophy hunting for deer and elk exists in those units where roadless designation is most prominent.
“The more we encroach on roadless lands, the more pressure we put on elk and deer to find new habitat,” said John Ellenberger, retired big game manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. “They’ll eventually be pushed off public land onto private land and we’ll be forced to reduce game populations as a result. The more this happens, the harder it becomes to find quality hunting.”
No matter what your age might be.
Charlie Meyers can be reached at 303-820-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com.
