Representatives from the National Wildlife Federation, Colorado Government, The Central Wilderness Coalition and Outdoor Industry Association all gathered in Denver this past week to voice concerns about the changes in the roadless policies in federal forests. In July BOSS reported (BOSS_0429) that the existing roadless rule enacted during Clinton’s last days in office, was replaced by a new state-by-state ‘opt-in’ approach.

Under the new rule each states governor must petition the U.S. Government in order to keep national forests protected roadless areas. In effect, if a governor chooses not to take action, all of the existing roadless areas in his or her state will be open to development.

The Denver area meeting, which was designed to gather public comment on this development, heard arguments from both environmentalists and business people, most were in favor of preserving the wilderness. Even those who were in favor of this new ‘opt-in’ approach agreed that preserving the wilderness made good economic sense for Colorado, but still argued that control should be in the hands of the states and not the Federal Government.

According to a local paper, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper also saw the economic benefit of keeping roadless areas in the state, and pointed out that many people move to Colorado because of the environment, quality of life, and wilderness.