Dentry: Wyoming case shows roadless areas' fragility

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

National forest roadless areas will stay roadless for the moment. But the political duel to settle how federal forests should be managed is far from over.

Friday, Federal Judge Clarence Brimmer, of Wyoming, grudgingly ruled he did not have the authority to overturn a 2006 decision by a California federal appeals judge, which reinstated Clinton-era protection of 50 million acres.

Brimmer previously discarded the Clinton Rule. His 2001 ruling allowed the Bush administration to evade controversy and direct the states to contrive their own roadless area recommendations.

But several states and conservation groups sued to retain the Clinton protections.

Others, including Colorado groups, went ahead as if they had legitimate authority to decide how federal lands should be managed.

Not so, according to the once and now still status quo. The Clinton Rule's blanket protections stand fast.

Wyoming attorney general Pat Crank promises to appeal the case again. So the switchbacks creak back and forth.

Roadless protection still could go either way.

Or some other way.

One thing that almost certainly will not change is that no new recreational roads will be built in inventoried roadless areas, at least within Colorado's 4.1 million-acre share.

There is a mistaken impression among some off-road vehicle users that the current battle is about OHV roads.

But recreational riding has been off the slate for a long time now.

Early in its deliberations, the overwhelmingly Republican task force appointed by former Gov. Bill Owens scotched any new road building for recreational motoring in Colorado's roadless areas.

In fact, 91 percent of people who commented in a poll commissioned by the state task force said they wanted no roads built in the areas for any reason.

Obviously, the 2001 Clinton Rule protections also forbid intrusion of OHVs. So that part of the deal is sealed.

But Colorado's petition is not so firm on other matters. Ignoring public opinion, the state task force inserted several last-minute loopholes allowing some road building for industrial purposes.

Some version of this mess probably will wind up in the Supreme Court. But Bush's dictum isn't likely to survive because of the sloppy way it was enacted.

The Clinton-era Roadless Rule met legal requirements for environmental impact studies and six months of public hearings. It received 96 percent of public support.

But the Bush administration enacted its contrary rule without public input and in violation of environmental laws. At least that's the 2006 interpretation of California Federal Magistrate Judge Elizabeth LaPorte.

Colorado is scheduled to present its petition to a national advisory committee today. Gov. Bill Ritter's revision asks for interim protection of the lands before the issue is decided.

Not that any state's request means anything.

The problem with the state petition concept is that it is impotent. The USDA Forest Service can ignore what states want and go its own way - much as the BLM did when it recently leased mineral rights in roadless areas, then ignored Ritter's pleas for a drilling delay atop the Roan Plateau.

So the Bush administration's state petition program is doomed to go out with the rest of the garbage. And Colorado's recommendations essentially are moot.

That leaves the Clinton Rule intact, but only until the next assault against wildlife, clean water and America's hunting and fishing heritage.

The roadless track is strewn with political rubble. It's going to be a long time before those intermediate wildlands get the permanent protection Americans repeatedly have said they want.

dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com