Colorado Sportsmen Target Roadless Plan in New Report

News for Immediate Release
Oct. 20, 2008
Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, kmckalip@trcp.org

Colorado Sportsmen Target Roadless Plan in New Report

“Backcountry Bounty” details specific criticisms of Colorado roadless rule,
calls for decisive action by governor, Forest Service to remedy plan’s problems

WASHINGTON – A report released today by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership critiques a proposed plan for managing national forest roadless areas in Colorado and features frank testimonials from Colorado sportsmen affirming the backcountry’s vital role in hunting and fishing. “Backcountry Bounty: Colorado – Adding TEETH to Our Roadless Rule” offers specific recommendations for improving the Colorado roadless plan and calls on Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and the U.S. Forest Service to correct its flaws as a public comment period ends.

“Adding TEETH to the Colorado roadless rule will uphold the values – Tradition, Economy, Experience, Trophies and Habitat – that roadless areas sustain in the Centennial State,” said Joel Webster, TRCP roadless initiative manager. “Coloradans deserve a roadless plan that benefits not only sportsmen and other public-lands users but also the habitat on which our fish and wildlife depend.”

The TRCP analysis of the draft Colorado roadless rule highlights loose management guidelines allowing excessive road building and timber cutting that could affect big-game and trout habitat. Specific issues outlined in the report include the following:

Loopholes allowing new roads for power line corridors and water projects, grazing, oil and gas development, coal mining and ski resorts must be closed.

Road building must be prohibited in the development of 70,000 acres of oil and gas leases sold after the 2001 Roadless Rule was enacted.

Community protection areas must be more narrowly defined to ensure that timber cutting is focused around homes, where fires are the biggest threat to public health and safety.

“Roadless areas on public lands are a very important component of big-game habitat,” said John Ellenberger, a former Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist who lives in Grand Junction. “Studies show a direct loss of big-game habitat due to road building, and the habitat effectiveness of adjacent areas is reduced as animals avoid them due to traffic or human activity. Preserving roadless areas as they currently exist is an excellent opportunity to protect wildlife and habitat – now and in the future.”

“One recurring theme draws me back to these places again and again,” asserted Mike Duplan, a sportsman from Silverthorne. “Roadless, wild backcountry is the lure,and the rare opportunity to cross paths with a mature buck or bull is the reward.”

The sportsmen recently outlined their concerns with the draft Colorado roadless rule to the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Council, or RACNAC, which is offering guidance to state and federal authorities as revision of the plan commences. The TRCP recommendations to the RACNAC follow a series of meetings convened by the U.S. Forest Service to enable citizens’ input on the plan. The public comment period ends Oct. 23.

“I dream that I will be able take my children to places like the Platte River and Tarryall Mountains and catch native trout,” said Benjamin Miller, a student at the University of Colorado-Boulder and an avid fly fisher. “In my opinion, these secluded streams are the finest waters in Colorado.”

“With 345 roadless areas comprising 4.4 million acres, Colorado possesses a hunting and fishing heritage found nowhere else in the world,” concluded Webster. “Sportsmen both in Colorado and across the country are looking to Governor Ritter and the Forest Service who, with guidance from the RACNAC, can assure a future for the state’s unparalleled conservation legacy.”

Read “Backcountry Bounty: Colorado.”

Visit the TRCP Web site to learn more about the proposed Colorado rule.

Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions
of hunting and fishing.

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