While much of Colorado’s outdoors community is focused on a legislative proposal to merge the Division of Wildlife and Colorado State Parks, there are some other noteworthy items on the political radar.
Attracting local attention in the controversial off-highway vehicle (OHV) realm is Rep. Kevin Priola’s HB 1264. The bill making its way through the Legislature would make driving “quads” and similar OHVs legal on all county dirt roads and paved streets with speed limits up to 45 mph unless the county takes action to close the paved roads to quads. Dirt roads would remain open to registered OHVs.
Priola, R-Henderson, maintains his bill will improve access for hunters and fishermen, particularly the elderly. It will also eliminate confusion among riders trying to figure out which roads they are allowed to operate their vehicles on, he says.
Drivers must have a valid license, plates and insurance, just like driving a car. That, one might suppose, is where the true appeal lies. It’s a revenue generator in a time of economic stagnation.
But that’s not to say it comes without costs. As Dave Lien, co-chair of Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers points out, allowing “all-terrain” OHVs on public roads easily leads to uncontrolled access of surrounding public lands, already an enforcement challenge for federal land managers trying to protect resources and visitor experiences.
And as noted by the Colorado Municipal League, which opposes the bill along with Colorado Counties Inc. (CCI), the additional traffic is likely to increase the burden on state and county law enforcement officers at a time when resources are already stretched thin.
The “just a few bad apples” argument paraded out by OHV supporters in the annual access debate is equally thin, since that’s really all it takes to destroy habitat for decades. But whatever your opinion, make it known to representatives while you still can. The nonpartisan link at official_state.php makes it easy.
On a larger scale, Field and Stream magazine conservation editor Bob Marshall’s March 14 blog unveils the significant flaws in the Republican plan known as “HR 1.” “How the Budget Bill will Decimate Conservation,” should be required reading for every outdoorsman.
In a nutshell, the plan is to reduce the nation’s budget deficit by decimating fish, wildlife and sportsmen’s programs while leaving habitat- consuming industries like oil and gas unscathed.
As Marshall points out, many sections do nothing to lower the deficit but simply target environmental laws that polluting industries have opposed for years. Among the worst in the bill for sportsmen:
• Eliminate funding for the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, which has contributed almost $872 million — and has leveraged private funds of more than $2.64 billion — to protect 25 million acres of wetlands critical to waterfowl. Ducks Unlimited says this would cripple waterfowl hunting.
• Reduce the Wetlands Reserve Program by 50,000 acres and cut options for the Conservation Reserve Program, critical to upland birds, waterfowl and other wildlife.
• Cut almost $400 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is composed of offshore oil lease royalties supposedly dedicated to wildlife habitat.
• Forbid the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing new guidelines for the Clean Water Act, which attempts to restore protections to 20 million acres of small wetlands and many of the nation’s streams.
• Forbid the EPA to enforce carbon-reduction regulations responsible for climate change, which wildlife officials say is the gravest threat to hunting and fishing.
• Cripple federal agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by forbidding them from doing research and collecting data on the subject of climate change.
• Kill funding for the new BLM Wild Lands Policy, a key program for studying lands that might qualify for Wilderness protection and potentially saving public fishing and hunting acres from energy development.
That’s just the beginning. It has conservation groups up in arms, and it should have you too. Read it at , then write your senator.
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
