Steamboat Springs – The Colorado Division of Wildlife on Thursday evening came out strongly in favor of preserving roadless areas on public lands, ending months of fence-sitting on the controversial issue being considered by a state advisory panel.
Agency director Bruce McCloskey approved a letter read by roadless-areas manager Jim Goodyear that advocates the preservation of the maximum amount of roadless land to protect wildlife habitat.
“Colorado’s inventoried roadless areas comprise over 4 million acres of land, much of which represents biological strongholds that provide essential habitat for fish, for game and for hundreds of other wildlife species that make up the diversity of the state,” Goodyear told the state Roadless Area Review Task Force at Steamboat Springs Middle School.
Republican Gov. Bill Owens generally supports the doctrine of multiple use of public lands that allows for motorized vehicles and energy exploration.
The DOW’s long-awaited definitive stance reflects widely held views of the agency’s front-line biologists and wildlife managers who fear the state’s explosive growth and increased backcountry intrusion have harmed wildlife habitat.
“Division staff, representing a wide range of professional expertise, has consistently recommended that inventoried roadless areas in Colorado should be protected, managed and maintained to provide the maximum benefits for wildlife and wildlife habitat,” according to McCloskey’s letter, which was not submitted to the panel Thursday because he had not yet signed it.
The letter suggested that rolling back protections for roadless areas may result in undesirable environmental consequences and the loss of choices for future generations.
Task-force member Steve Smith, who represents The Wilderness Society, said he was not surprised that the agency took the stance but was impressed it offered such a strong statement.
The debate over the level of protection needed for roadless areas has raged across the country for the past five years.
In 2001, President Clinton signed a disputed rule that set aside vast tracts of federal lands from future road-building. The Bush administration a year ago implemented a new rule allowing state governors to make recommendations on which parcels of land should be off limits to logging, energy exploration and other uses that require new roads.
In Colorado, the unique state task force has been holding hearings since October and later this year will advise Owens, who will have the final say on a recommendation to Washington.
Hearings in Pueblo, Delta and Durango were packed.
Environmental organizations contend that roads destroy undeveloped natural areas, fragment wildlife habitat and introduce trash, weeds and wildfires.
Off-highway vehicle groups and industries such as logging and mining support overturning the Clinton-era rule.
In Steamboat Springs, more than 100 people fidgeted on uncomfortable bleachers in a steamy school gymnasium for the chance to offer their views – split over the Clinton-era rule – after 2 1/2 hours of testimony from panels comprised of user groups and elected officials.
Jerry Nettleton of Steamboat Springs argued that effective management of public lands not hard-and-fast blanket rules – makes the most sense.
“There’s two ends to the spectrum: There’s lock it up or open it up,” he said. “I suspect the answer should be somewhere in between.”
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
