Reported by CDR and Colorado Energy News

DENVER - The Colorado Department of Natural Resources today released proposed revisions to the draft Colorado Roadless Rule for public review and comment.

Colorado’s 4.1 million acres of roadless national forest provide an irreplaceable source of clean water, wildlife habitat and biodiversity and play a critical role in supporting long-term sustainable economic sectors. Tens of thousands of Coloradans have voiced their support for protecting roadless forests over the past two decades.

“Colorado remains committed to finalizing a roadless plan that creates a strong, lasting conservation framework that addresses the bark beetle epidemic and ensures our recreation, tourism and natural resource industries are able to grow,” said Mike King, DNR’s deputy director. “Given the number of changes we’re proposing to the draft rule, it’s important to gather more public input to ensure the transparency and accountability of this process.”

Since 2005, the state of Colorado has worked with the U.S. Forest Service and a wide variety of stakeholders to develop a permanent conservation framework for the 363 roadless areas within the 11 national forests in Colorado.

Following a lengthy public and stakeholder process, the Forest Service published a proposed Colorado roadless rule in July 2008. The state has been listening attentively to the concerns of stakeholders since then, while working with the Forest Service to incorporate recommendations that improve the draft state rule. Among the revisions made the past 12 months, the state and the Forest Service have updated the roadless inventory to add approximately 160,000 acres of high-quality roadless forests.

The state has made additional recommendations to better balance the need to protect mountain communities and water infrastructure from fire risk with the overall goal of conserving roadless values. Among other changes, the state is also proposing to tighten the draft rule to eliminate new roads for grazing.

On July 16, Gov. Bill Ritter and Regional Forester Rick Cables announced that Colorado would be releasing the revised language and offering the public an opportunity to provide additional comment on the draft rule. During the next 60 days, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources will solicit further public input. Following the comment period, the state will consider making additional changes
before finalizing its recommendations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture later this fall.

Update 8 PM August 3

Seven environmental groups issued a statement Monday saying they’d look at the state’s latest proposal, but believed it to be “a bad deal for Colorado.” They said the proposal, if enacted, “would result in less protection for roadless national forests here than in any other state.” Signing onto the statement were the groups Colorado Wild, Wilderness Workshop, Colorado Environmental Coalition, Western Colorado Congress, Colorado Mountain Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the High Country Citizens’ Alliance.

The full text of the revised draft rule, and links to supporting information, can be found here: http://www.dnr.state.co.us/roadlessrule.

Comments may be submitted electronically to the following email address: Roadless.Comments@state.co.us

Comments may also be submitted by regular mail to:

Roadless Rule Comments
Colorado Department of Natural Resources
Room 718
1313 Sherman
Denver, CO 80203

Comments will be accepted through the end of business Oct. 3.