Forest Roadless Areas and Mountain Backdrop Need Protection
by Congressman Mark Udall (CO-2)
(This column first appeared in The Daily Camera on August 13, 2000)

Colorado's forest lands and our as yet unspoiled view of the mountains are a critical part of what makes our state a very special place to live. But as our population increases, so do the pressures on our forests. 

If you have lived in Colorado for the last ten years, you know exactly what I am talking about. Just ten years ago, the drive on I-70 between Morrison and Idaho Springs was certainly less crowded, but you could also see large undeveloped tracks of open lands along the drive. That has changed. Today, as you drive the same stretch of I-70, the mountains and foothills are dotted with houses and new developments. The open view is diminishing, and the forests are pushed to capacity in order to accommodate ever-increasing numbers of people.

The Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest is a good example of the problem. This forest is within a few minutes drive for more than 2.5 million people in the Front Range Denver-metro area. As a result, it is experiencing increasing use of all kinds, especially recreational. This pressure makes it more important than ever to make sure some of the most sensitive parts of the forest are protected, at the same time that we work to help our communities respond to the problems of growth and sprawl. 

That is why I have introduced H.R. 5097, the Northern Front Range Roadless Area and Mountain Backdrop Protection Act. The bill would do two important things. 

First, it would provide protection for roadless areas in part of the forest within the Second Congressional District (Boulder and Clear Creek counties). Under the bill, the Forest Service would manage over 80,000 acres on this forest as "protected roadless areas." These are areas that the Forest Service identified as roadless in its 1997 revised forest management plan. Most of these areas would be appropriate additions to existing wilderness areas, and they are also included in President Clinton's Roadless Conservation Proposal for the national forests.

I have supported the President's roadless area initiative in part because I know how those increasing pressures are affecting the Arapaho-Roosevelt and the other national forests in Colorado. And, with respect to relevant lands within this Congressional District, I want to build on what the President has proposed. 

So, my bill would undergird the President's initiative with a statutory requirement that the Forest Service manage these areas to preserve their roadless qualities until Congress determines otherwise. With this interim protection in place, the bill would also require the Forest Service to study and evaluate these areas and then make recommendations to Congress regarding their future management. That report would be submitted within three years. In the meantime, and until Congress decides otherwise, the Forest Service would be required to maintain the roadless quality of these areas by prohibiting timber cutting, road building, oil and gas leasing, and motorized vehicle use. Uses consistent with open space, like livestock grazing, would be allowed to continue. 

The Forest Service would also be directed to study and report to Congress in three years about how best to manage these lands for the long term. The report would include recommendations about the suitability of wilderness designation for some or all of these lands or other appropriate designations. The bill will thus maintain all options and allow Congress to ultimately resolve the status of these roadless lands.

Although this bill is limited to roadless areas in this one Congressional District, I believe that these protections ought to be considered throughout the entire Arapaho-Roosevelt. The forest has identified significant acreage west of the Continental Divide and surrounding Rocky Mountain National Park as also being roadless. Since these areas are in Districts represented by my colleagues Scott McInnis and Bob Schaffer, I plan to talk with them - and the rest of the Colorado Congressional Delegation - about applying the concepts of this bill forest-wide and perhaps in some of Colorado's other national forests as well.

The second part of the bill contains a section intended to help local communities preserve the Front Range Mountain Backdrop just west of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology site. 

Rocky Flats, just a few miles south of Boulder, once built nuclear weapons. But now that mission is over and the task of the Rocky Flats workforce is to carry out a thorough, prompt, and effective cleanup and closure. I strongly support that effort, and am also working to have the prairie land within the site's 6,500 acres protected as wildlife habitat and open space. But I think we need to look beyond the site's perimeters, building on an idea proposed by Attorney General Ken Salazar.

So far, development in the Denver-metro area has not yet surrounded the Rocky Flats site. However, growth and sprawl are heading its way. Now is the time to shape the future of this part of the Front Range, and I think we have a real but fleeting opportunity to establish Rocky Flats and lands to its west as a "crown jewel" of open space and wildlife habitat that will be of inestimable value for Coloradans for generations to come. I also think the federal government can help achieve that goal. So, my bill would call on the Forest Service to examine the land ownership patterns west of Rocky Flats, identify lands that are undeveloped, and recommend options for how these areas could be preserved.

Future generations will judge us harshly if we have not taken the steps we should to preserve the quality of Colorado's environment and protect special open lands. We have a dwindling opportunity today to preserve areas that are not yet lost to development but are in the path of growth. I hope that we can take advantage of this opportunity to leave a legacy that we can be proud to pass along to generations to come. Certainly, I will do all I can to achieve that goal.