landusepbb
04-07-2010, 06:31 AM
This is absolutely horrible.
DENVER - Gov. Bill Ritter submitted a plan for Colorado's backcountry forests Tuesday and won positive feedback from the Obama administration.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last year asked Ritter to try again on the Colorado Roadless Rule after conservationists said the original plan would have allowed too much logging.
The plan Ritter sent to Washington on Tuesday limits logging and road-building to fire-prone areas around towns.
“We have come a long way toward focusing the treatment around communities affected by wildfire," said Mike King, deputy director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
The original plan, developed in 2006, would have allowed logging and roads deep in backcountry “roadless" areas to combat the risk of wildfire. It also allowed exceptions for ranching and gas drilling that are no longer part of the plan.
Tuesday's move is the latest development in the battle over roadless forests, which has extended through the administrations of three U.S. presidents and two Colorado governors.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton issued a nationwide rule to forbid roads in 58 million acres. President George W. Bush promptly overturned it and invited states to make their own rules. Federal courts issued conflicting rulings, and in 2005, Colorado started a yearlong series of meetings to develop a plan specific to the state.
That plan went through several drafts before Ritter finally submitted it Tuesday. It covers 4.2 million acres of forests.
It is based on the 2001 Clinton rule, but it includes exceptions for ski resorts statewide and coal mines near Paonia. Durango Mountain Resort would be able to expand into 90 acres of land that the 2001 rule designated as roadless.
Vilsack sent positive signals after Ritter's action Tuesday.
“The Colorado petition that (Ritter) has submitted today provides strong protections for roadless areas," Vilsack said in a news release. “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."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture - which oversees the U.S. Forest Service - will now start a new Environmental Impact Statement on the Colorado plan, which will include a chance for the public to comment. It could be a year before the federal government finishes the plan.
USDA Undersecretary Harris Sherman will not participate because he helped write the Colorado rule when he was director of the state Department of Natural Resources, a USDA spokesman said.
Conservation groups were split on the new plan. The Colorado Environmental Coalition and the Colorado Wildlife Federation expressed support, although the wildlife group does not like the allowances made for ski areas.
But other groups are urging the Obama administration to say no to Ritter's plan, including the Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited and Earthjustice.
Steve Smith of The Wilderness Society served on the task force that drafted the Colorado rule in 2005 and 2006. At the time, conservationists wanted to get any sort of protection in place, so Smith agreed to a plan that allowed logging deep in the backcountry. Smith was pleased that the new plan would limit logging to within a half-mile of a town or, in special cases, 1.5 miles.
“It's a smart move. It's a smart way to use money and foresters' time," Smith said.
Still, his group would prefer that Colorado not have its own rule. Instead, Colorado's plan should be included within a single national rule, Smith said. Vilsack, too, has in the past expressed his support for adopting one national standard.
Other than Colorado, only Idaho has pursued a state-specific rule.
A lawsuit about the 2001 Clinton rule is before the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court has not said when it will issue a ruling.
No matter what happens in the court case, Colorado officials think Tuesday's plan is strong enough that they will stick with it, King said.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/04/07/Obama_likes_forest_plan/
DENVER - Gov. Bill Ritter submitted a plan for Colorado's backcountry forests Tuesday and won positive feedback from the Obama administration.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last year asked Ritter to try again on the Colorado Roadless Rule after conservationists said the original plan would have allowed too much logging.
The plan Ritter sent to Washington on Tuesday limits logging and road-building to fire-prone areas around towns.
“We have come a long way toward focusing the treatment around communities affected by wildfire," said Mike King, deputy director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
The original plan, developed in 2006, would have allowed logging and roads deep in backcountry “roadless" areas to combat the risk of wildfire. It also allowed exceptions for ranching and gas drilling that are no longer part of the plan.
Tuesday's move is the latest development in the battle over roadless forests, which has extended through the administrations of three U.S. presidents and two Colorado governors.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton issued a nationwide rule to forbid roads in 58 million acres. President George W. Bush promptly overturned it and invited states to make their own rules. Federal courts issued conflicting rulings, and in 2005, Colorado started a yearlong series of meetings to develop a plan specific to the state.
That plan went through several drafts before Ritter finally submitted it Tuesday. It covers 4.2 million acres of forests.
It is based on the 2001 Clinton rule, but it includes exceptions for ski resorts statewide and coal mines near Paonia. Durango Mountain Resort would be able to expand into 90 acres of land that the 2001 rule designated as roadless.
Vilsack sent positive signals after Ritter's action Tuesday.
“The Colorado petition that (Ritter) has submitted today provides strong protections for roadless areas," Vilsack said in a news release. “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."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture - which oversees the U.S. Forest Service - will now start a new Environmental Impact Statement on the Colorado plan, which will include a chance for the public to comment. It could be a year before the federal government finishes the plan.
USDA Undersecretary Harris Sherman will not participate because he helped write the Colorado rule when he was director of the state Department of Natural Resources, a USDA spokesman said.
Conservation groups were split on the new plan. The Colorado Environmental Coalition and the Colorado Wildlife Federation expressed support, although the wildlife group does not like the allowances made for ski areas.
But other groups are urging the Obama administration to say no to Ritter's plan, including the Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited and Earthjustice.
Steve Smith of The Wilderness Society served on the task force that drafted the Colorado rule in 2005 and 2006. At the time, conservationists wanted to get any sort of protection in place, so Smith agreed to a plan that allowed logging deep in the backcountry. Smith was pleased that the new plan would limit logging to within a half-mile of a town or, in special cases, 1.5 miles.
“It's a smart move. It's a smart way to use money and foresters' time," Smith said.
Still, his group would prefer that Colorado not have its own rule. Instead, Colorado's plan should be included within a single national rule, Smith said. Vilsack, too, has in the past expressed his support for adopting one national standard.
Other than Colorado, only Idaho has pursued a state-specific rule.
A lawsuit about the 2001 Clinton rule is before the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court has not said when it will issue a ruling.
No matter what happens in the court case, Colorado officials think Tuesday's plan is strong enough that they will stick with it, King said.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/04/07/Obama_likes_forest_plan/