Revised federal roadless plan compromises for coal mining, restricts tree cutting

State specific roadless plan started under Bush administration defended by Obama administration.

The latest incarnation of a plan to protect the remaining relatively "roadless" national forest land in Colorado makes compromises for coal-mining and increases the amount of top-priority land that could receive stricter protection.

The U.S. Forest Service this morning will release a draft of the plan, which also limits tree-cutting in dead and dying beetle-ravaged forests near communities to an area within 1/2-mile of town, with some exceptions. And exceptions for roads needed around ski areas on leased public land still would be allowed.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak, whose agency oversees the forest service, is expected to rule on the revised plan for managing the 4.18 million acres of national forest land in Colorado later this year.

Colorado Department of Natural Resources officials say they participated in the process.

"We're committed to the protection of roadless areas on our national forests, areas vital for conservation of water resources, wildlife and for outdoor recreation," Vilsack said in a prepared statement. "These areas also provide an important driver of economic opportunity and jobs in rural Colorado communities."

Federal and state officials have been working on the current plan since 2005. They've been negotiating the broader issue of protecting roadless areas since 2001, when the President Clinton established a rule that governs relatively pristine forests nationwide.

Leaders were concerned that commercial, residential and industrial development was degrading forests bit by bit.

The compromise for coal companies on Colorado's Western Slope is designed to allow temporary roads for drilling and maintaining methane gas vents needed for expansion of underground mining.

The plan increases the amount of land receiving strictest protection to 562,000 acres out of the 4.18 million roadless acres statewide — still less than a third of the 14.5 million acres of national forest land in Colorado.

"We think it is significantly mproved and we commend the forward direction, but we still see some need for refinement," said Joel Webster, director of public lands programs for the Montana-based Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. "We believe a third, about 1.4 million acres, should be included in the upper tier to provide certainty that that they will be conserved for future generations."

As they unveil the 78-page Colorado plan today, along with a draft statement of potential environmental impacts, forest service officials will initiate a 90-day period for public review.

A year ago, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter submitted a newly sweetened plan to the Obama administration for approval. Vilsack at the time praised it for providing strong protection, but added that the Forest Service would look into increasing the number of acres receiving a higher level of protection.

Federal courts still are divided on applicability of the Clinton-era rule and whether officials established it legally.

A ruling expected from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver will resolve the Obama administration's and environmental groups' challenge of a 2008 Wyoming federal judge's injunction blocking roadless protection nationwide. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of national roadless protection, rejecting a Bush administration bid to open some forests to development.

Environmental advocacy groups were preparing to scrutinize the new draft plan.

"It's disappointing that this rule is not going to be as protective as the national rule," said Ted Zukoski, a Denver-based staff attorney for Earthjustice, which has defended roadless forest protection in courts around the West for a decade.

The plan "appears to permit oil and gas drilling in some places. It's going to allow bull-dozing for roads and well pads for coal mines on tens and thousands of acres."

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