On April 6, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter submitted a final plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for managing the 4.2 million roadless acres of national forest within the state. The state plan was developed following the Bush Administration authorization of states to petition for roadless protection, after overturning a 2001 Clinton-era federal rule that provided blanket protection for the more than 58 million acres of federal lands with no roads. Both Administrations' rules have been the subject of legal wrangling, with a 2008 court decision blocking roadless protection nationwide, another reinstating the original roadless rule and a new decision anticipated in the 10th Circuit of Appeals later this year. Ritter has called the Colorado petition an insurance policy in case the national rule is not reinstated, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

"Colorado's 4.2 million acres of roadless areas are a nationally significant resource and an irreplaceable economic asset. Cherished by our citizens and by the visitors who come here from across the world, Colorado's roadless backcountry provides critical wildlife habitat, clean drinking water and unmatched scenery," Ritter commented in the letter submitted with the final plan. "While my initial goal was primarily to obtain an insurance policy, our rule has evolved to become more protective of Colorado's roadless areas than the 2001 Roadless Conservation Rule." The plan submitted this month protects more than 400,000 acres that were missed in the original roadless survey. In addition, it eliminates a loophole that would have allowed construction in roadless areas for pipelines, power lines and telecom lines across forests, and it bans road building for any future oil and gas leasing.

But the plan also provides flexibility for management, allowing communities to propose and carry out fuel-reduction activities within one-half mile of roadless zones, but limiting projects to one and a half miles from their boundaries. There are also targeted exemptions, including making 0.2 percent of the total roadless inventory available for expansion of ski slopes within ski-permitted areas, and 0.5 percent of the inventory available for three coal mines in the Gunnison Basin to drill methane vents for existing mines. The exceptions would potentially impact only 30,000 acres of the proposed roadless area.

The current version of the plan has substantive changes from earlier drafts, enough so that the USDA will need to revise its draft environmental impact statement for the proposal. Most notably, the new plan proposes 257,000 acres be granted "upper tier" status, meaning they would receive a higher level of protection than they would have received under the 2001 rule. "As the Forest Service prepares a draft environmental impact statement for this petition, I have asked that the agency analyze the potential of adding significantly to the number of acres receiving a higher level of protection than the 2001 rule," Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said in a statement. "I'm confident that working with the Governor and with the public, we will craft a final rule that is, on balance, at least as protective of roadless areas?and preferably more protective?than the 2001 Roadless Rule."

Despite much substantial input by a wide variety of organizations and industries within the state, some groups are requesting that the Obama Administration reject the state's proposal. They argue that the national rule should be implemented, thereby making the state-specific rules unnecessary. "There's real value in having consistent roadless protection throughout the nation?to avoid substandard protection in any portion of the nation," said Steve Smith, assistant regional director for the Wilderness Society. "Colorado's plan does indeed look at some very specific, unique circumstances that the state has in its national forests. We think those needs, and the state's proposal, should be used in guiding the implementation of the national rule in Colorado."

However, the Colorado Wildlife Federation supports the governor's action. "The national rule is nearly a decade old, and major changes have occurred on the ground that require boundary changes and protection for roadless areas surrounding oil and gas development and the building of transmission lines. These areas are specifically addressed in the state plan," stated CWF's Todd Malmsbury.

Other than Colorado, only Idaho has pursued a state-specific plan that was approved in 2008. (jas)