Yesterday the USFS released the final draft of the Colorado
Roadless Rule, a state-specific rule that will replace the 2001 national
Roadless Rule for management of 4.2 million acres of inventoried roadless lands
in Colorado.
In response, the CMC released the following public statement:
The
Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) applauds the improvements to the Colorado Roadless
Rule and appreciates the US Forest Service for dramatically increasing to 1.2
million acres the “upper tier” of protected lands and the tightening of
exemptions. These are a significant
improvement from the earlier draft versions of the state-specific rule.
The
CMC’s 7,000 members and the outdoor recreating public deeply value these
roadless lands as places for hiking, nature watching, quiet contemplation and
refuge from an increasingly hectic and mechanized world.
Since
the 2001 national Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been upheld in courts and
affirmed as the law of the land, CMC and others have called on the Obama
administration to either apply the national rule to Colorado or to increase the
level of protection in the Colorado-specific rule to a level that is truly
consistent with the national rule.
While
in many ways the Colorado Roadless Rule has improved, there are still some
troubling elements that preclude the CMC’s full endorsement, including
exemptions for coal mine methane venting, ski area expansions and new roads in
roadless areas. These exceptions to
roadless protections prevent our full endorsement of the Final Rule as released
today. We hope that the Obama
administration will continue to strengthen the Colorado Rule’s protections and
close some of the exceptions in the final weeks of the rulemaking.
Colorado Roadless Rule at USFS
Map of Colorado roadless lands
Media:
Denver Post: http://goo.gl/NGHMu
Associated Press: http://goo.gl/Yq4dB
Summit Daily News: http://goo.gl/CZZhL
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: http://goo.gl/gvs1N
The Coloradoan: http://goo.gl/vz3H9
Aspen Times: http://goo.gl/r4a12
Summit County Citizens Voice: http://goo.gl/IlHFb
Colorado Independent: http://goo.gl/ooCJY