Last week, the Colorado Roadless Areas Review Task Force took a major step in the process of determining the future of 4.1 million acres of Colorado roadless areas. It was public policy the way it should be done: a balanced group of experts, representing a wide variety of interests, reached compromise conclusions designed to serve the public interest.
The task force settled on recommendations that would uphold the overwhelming public opposition to building new roads in undeveloped areas while adhering to the reasonable needs demonstrated by forest managers and industry.
After the Bush administration overturned President Clinton’s poorly regarded roadless policy in 2001, the government asked individual states to recommend how Washington should handle the areas within their borders. In May 2005, the U.S. Forest Service gave governors 18 months to provide plans for roadless protection in their states. Five states – California, New Mexico, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have already responded.
Colorado’s legislature authorized a task force to weigh public comments and formulate recommendations to Gov. Bill Owens. The group – 13 members ranging from environmentalists to ranchers to state officials – released a draft plan to the public this week. The task force sought public comment, and 91 percent of the responses wanted to discourage significant encroachment to the state’s roadless areas. That is, they wanted to preserve Colorado’s serene landscapes, sources of public drinking water, recreational activities and plant and animal diversity.
The draft plan does that, without slamming the door on legitimate ideas for road access. We hope the governor will accept the plan and forward it to Washington, where federal officials should respect its conclusions.
The plan prohibits road construction and reconstruction in identified roadless areas but cites reasonable exceptions that would make Colorado’s approach a pragmatic alternative to states that are recommending all-around bans. Among the proposed exemptions are areas allocated by the Forest Service to Colorado ski operators. In addition, the Forest Service will be permitted use of temporary roads for wildfire and natural catastrophe response. Roads needed for holders of grazing allotments to maintain range are also exempt.
As for mineral interests, the Colorado State Land Board would be granted permission to develop the interests it already owns, facilitated by roads only if deemed necessary. Coal mining leases in the North Fork Valley will be exempt from restriction until they expire. Though some environmentalists believe there are too many exemptions, the document strikes a balance in our state between conservation, public access and commercial use, well-suited to Colorado values.
Gov. Owens has until Nov. 13 to approve and submit the recommendations to Washington.
Nearly 20,000 acres of Colorado’s undeveloped land went up for auction in the Bureau of Land Management’s oil and gas lease sale Thursday, prior to the completion of the roadless process. Sen. Ken Salazar and his brother, 3rd Congressional District Rep. John Salazar, have protested the auction, ill-timed between the development of the roadless proposal, the guidance provided by Owens and later the final determination in Washington.
The draft roadless proposal permits temporary roads in conjunction with mineral interests in “lands that are under lease by the Secretary of the Interior as of the effective date of this Rule,” but the Salazars believe any lease of Colorado land should be delayed until Colorado has had a chance to submit its roadless recommendations. Disappointingly, federal officials ignored the entreaty, and the BLM went ahead with the auction.
That issue underscores the need to get a new policy in place. Colorado’s roadless protection plan is a well-considered proposal worthy of support from the governor and adoption by the federal government.
