The Bush administration might have left Colorado’s last wild forests open to development, but Gov. Bill Owens can close the door to logging, drilling, mining and new roads that could spoil them.

“And that’s exactly what we want him to do,” said Environment Colorado’s Matt Garrington, who is leading the organization’s campaign to save the state’s wild forests.

Bowing to pressure from the timber industry and its allies, in May the Bush administration repealed the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Without the protections afforded by the Roadless Rule, timber, mining and drilling interests could gain access to up to 4.4 million acres of Colorado national forest, including:

• the Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest’s Cherokee Park Roadless Area, where logging would threaten the purity of the North Fork Cache La Poudre watershed, a source of water for northeastern farmers;

• the Gunnison National Forest’s West Elk Roadless Area, targeted for mining by Arch Coal, a move which would threaten the habitat of elk, mountain lions and black bear and

• the White River National Forest’s Dome Peak Roadless Area, where logging would ruin this popular tourism and recreation site for Steamboat Springs that Coloradans visit for hiking, hunting, fishing and camping.

“The good news is that Gov. Owens can stop all of this from happening,” said Garrington.

When the Bush administration repealed the Roadless Rule, it left an escape clause: governors can petition the federal government to restore protections to national forest roadless areas within their states.

In Colorado, a bipartisan Roadless Areas Review Task Force has been set up to advise the governor. This fall, the task force is holding meetings in Delta, Durango, Glenwood Springs, Monte Vista, Pueblo, Fort Collins, Steamboat Springs and Denver to gauge public opinion on the issue.

Environment Colorado has joined forces with a broad coalition to make sure that environmental voices are heard. Among the groups involved are the National Wildlife Federation, the Colorado Mountain Club and the Wilderness Society.

Yet winning remains a challenge. A super-majority of the task force – eight of the group’s 13 members – must approve any recommendations that would alter the original Roadless Rule.

Environment Colorado is working to ensure that the Task Force honor the wishes of Coloradans and recommend that Gov. Owens protect all 4.4 million acres of roadless forests.

“These forests are worth protecting in their own right,” added Garrington. “But there are sound fiscal and economic reasons for protecting these forests, too.” Garrington noted that the natural beauty preserved in these forests attracts millions of tourist dollars to the Colorado economy.

“Coloradans spend an estimated $200 million annually on non-motorized recreational equipment,” said Ali Steimke of the Outdoor Industry Association. “Colorado’s economy can’t afford to lose these roadless areas.”

In contrast, allowing logging or drilling often ends up with the federal government spending more than it gains in fees from timber and oil companies.

“As Republicans, we are tired of taxpayer money being spent to subsidize logging roads into our national forests; the original Roadless Rule protects the last pristine and unprotected national forests from the reckless spending,” said Marty Sorensen, president of the Colorado chapter of Republicans for Environmental Protection.

Steimke, Sorensen and other Colorado leaders, including Rep. Mark Udall and State Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, joined Environment Colorado last fall in releasing “Our Natural Legacy: The Value of America’s Roadless National Forests,” a report that documented the forests’ contribution to keeping America’s drinking water supplies clean.

Yet the most important reason for saving these forests is harder to document. As 16 year-old Isa Roske, a driving force behind a dynamic group called Youth Leaders in Action, said, “The forests are the lungs of our world, and in destroying these precious ecosystems we are endangering the future of our children. We, as the young people of today, inheriting the world of tomorrow, will be paying the price for your choices.”

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