Colorado’s new rule for managing 4.2 million acres of roadless federal forest in the state reflects a compromise — superior protection for some land with limited road-building allowed on the rest.
Scattered islands of “upper-tier” territory covering 1.2 million acres across western Colorado would be shielded from any new roads — even for building power lines, nonwater pipelines and telecom lines.
But coal mines, ski areas, oil and gas drillers, and loggers all would be allowed to build temporary roads on parts of the other 3 million acres.
Tradeoffs were made because those industries are “extraordinarily important to the economy,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday as he, U.S. Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell and Gov. John Hickenlooper unveiled a final impact statement detailing the rule.
On balance, the other 3 million acres would not be significantly less protected than today under the existing national rule made in 2001 that governs roadless forests nationwide, Vilsack said.
Hickenlooper said Colorado’s locally tailored rule — Idaho is the only other state that has one — “enhances all that makes Colorado special while at the same time providing a measure of flexibility that supports local economies and ensures communities can take steps to protect themselves from wildfire.”
That flexibility, Hickenlooper said, “defines how we do things here in Colorado.”
National Wildlife Federation attorney Michael Saul welcomed “a net-gain in protection for forests and wildlife.”
But other environment and recreation-industry groups bristled, combing documents as they pertain to oil and gas leases, not ruling out legal challenges. Most groups acknowledged improvements over previous versions but were planning to press aggressively for changes.
“On balance, it doesn’t quite measure up,” said Ted Zukoski, an attorney for Earthjustice, which for 12 years has defended the national roadless rule.
For 3 million acres, “there’s less protection” due to exceptions allowing new roads for logging, mining, drilling and ski areas, said Rocky Mountain Wild director Rocky Smith. “We shouldn’t do this trade. Sacrificing 3 million acres to get better protection for 1.2 million acres is not good.”
The Colorado-based Outdoor Industry Association issued a statement calling on the Obama administration to “extend upper-tier protection” to the other 3 million acres.
A review of the rule reveals:
• Exceptions allowing roads in “roadless” forests to protect urbanized mountain areas from wildfires by enabling “hazardous-fuel treatment” in surrounding woods.
• Updated inventories that add 409,500 roadless acres not protected under the national rule and remove 467,100 acres that already are ecologically compromised.
• Exceptions allowing road-building for industrial expansion — by ski areas on 8,000 acres, and by coal-mining companies on 19,000 acres to construct methane vents for current and future operations in western Colorado.
• Protection for rights and restrictions under existing oil and gas leases.
Obama administration officials have been trying to choose between this Colorado rule and a legally buttressed national rule, which bans most roads on 4.4 million of the 14.5 million acres of national forest in Colorado. (Today, only 3.7 million of those 4.4 million acres remain roadless because national inventories are outdated.) The national rule governs 58 million acres of federal forestland nationwide.
Federal land managers have favored a consistent national approach to stop development from eroding forests, where 100,000 miles of roads have been built — leading to degradation by bringing in people and fragmenting habitat.
In 30 days, Colorado’s rule could become final. All decisions made on individual national forests then would have to be consistent with this rule.
Some environmental groups argue it’s not needed because courts have backed up the national rule. A Wyoming federal judge in 2008 declared the national rule illegal. Last fall, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision.
Mining-industry leaders on Wednesday welcomed the rule statement, saying it will save 1,000 jobs in coal-mining communities.
“Certainly there’s room for the industry to grow in this region as long as the U.S. continues to rely on coal as an energy source,” Colorado Mining Association president Stuart Sanderson said.
