Help Protect Colorado's Roadless Areas
Colorado Residents: write a letter to the
Colorado Roadless Task Force
by August 25th
August 23, 2006
Colorado's Roadless Gems
Colorado is blessed with four million undisturbed, roadless acres of wild forest lands. The forest landscapes range from spruce and aspen glades in north-central Colorado to ancient ponderosa pine trees in the southwest. These are some of the nation’s best unspoiled tracts of wilderness, and their fate is in your hands.
The Opportunity for Protection
A Colorado Roadless Areas Review Task Force has composed formal recommendations to the Colorado governor asking for the protection of roadless areas across the state. The recommendations are strong but are missing some very important provisions. The Task Force will accept comments on those recommendations until 5pm, August 25th: Please tell them that our roadless areas deserve clear and reliable protection. As always, a nicely composed letter in your own words is the most powerful, however if you are short on time, it is still effective to use a sample l,etter. Click on the following link and paste your letter into the box: http://tinyurl.com/lrrvp.
Sample Letter:
Dear Roadless Task Force Members:
Thank you for accepting my comments on recommendations the Task Force has prepared to protect roadless areas in Colorado. I thank the Task Force for its dedication to protecting the pristine nature of these areas, the wildlife habitat, scenery, watersheds and clean air that they provide, as these values are so important to our economy in Colorado, as well as to our quality of life.
I am thrilled that the Task Force has prohibited most road building in roadless areas, directed tree cutting to places it will most help protect communities, and prohibited new roads in future oil and gas leases. These provisions must be maintained. I am concerned, however, that some necessary protections are missing from the proposed recommendations.
It is inappropriate to remove thousands of acres of roadless lands from all protections in the name of accommodating one proposed activity -- temporary surface facilities, such as methane vents, for underground coal mining. The Task Force can accommodate the limited surface disturbance required by the coal industry while also protecting, in the strongest way possible, the fish and wildlife habitat and other natural values in these roadless areas.
Cutting timber and building roads deep within our national forests far from communities makes no sense; it is costly and threatens wildlife. We need to ensure that communities are safe from wildfire and treating forests right next to communities makes sense, but we need to make sure that the timber cutting and associated road building occur only in the immediate vicinty of communities and buildings (not in the backcountry), and exceptions are appropriately narrow.
It is critical that the governor ask the Forest Service for strong interim protection. The Task Force has clearly stated that roadless areas deserve protection and that Colorado should have a rule that provides that protection. There is no crushing national need to invade these last remaining intact forests before Colorado's rule is finalized.
Sincerely,
Your Name and Address
On behalf of all the wildlife that depend upon Colorado's roadless areas, thank you for taking action!
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