The Bush administration Monday asked the West's governors to propose their own rules for roadless federal forests, a move that could open millions of acres to logging, mining and energy development.
Timber, oil and gas companies hailed the call for proposals as innovative and fair. Conservation groups called it a massive welfare program for those industries.
"We see this as a collaborative process," said Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, who heads the Forest Service.
Environmental groups across the country scoffed and said the process only benefits commercial interests.
"This is the biggest single giveaway to the timber industry in the history of the national forests," said Philip Clapp of the National Environmental Trust.
Soliciting governors' proposals reverses a Clinton administration rule that curtailed logging, oil and gas exploration and other commercial uses on land surveyed as roadless.
The Bush plan would give each governor 18 months to petition Forest Service Director Dale Bosworth for new roads to open wildlands or to continue conservation. Bosworth could adopt the proposals, reject governors' recommendations, use them in conjunction with proposals from other groups - or do nothing.
"We should not have protection only when a governor asserts that protection," said Rep. Mark Udall, R-Colo. "Instead of demonstrating leadership, the administration is passing the buck."
In Colorado, national forests cover about 13.9 million acres, including about 4.4 million acres inventoried as roadless.
"This is a new, dramatic offer to us," said Russ George, head of Colorado's Department of Natural Resources.
"Gov. Owens believes it is a great step forward," said Owens' press secretary, Dan Hopkins. "Our experts at the natural resources department will sit down with local people and determine what is best," he said.
Any actual change on the land would take two to three years because of the public comment period and the federal process for creating a new rule, Veneman said.
The roadless areas were identified in the 1970s and 1980s by volunteers. Some roadless areas were later set aside for permanent protection as wilderness.
"I don't think opening roadless areas is going to lead to anything catastrophic," said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo.
Predictably, industries dependent on public land cheered while conservation groups jeered the plan as a giveaway to logging and energy interests.
"This is a huge win for Colorado because it puts state and local officials in the driver's seat," said Jim Sims of the Golden-based Western Business Roundtable, which lobbies for energy and timber industries.
Ken Wonstoeln of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association said repealing the Clinton-era rule will open more land to energy exploration.
Nancy Fishering, president of the Colorado Timber Industry Association, said only 5,519 acres were logged in 2001, so the rule change may not have a significant impact. Current logging figures were not available.
Conservationists took a dim view of the Bush plan.
"I'm very disappointed that President Bush has decided to flip-flop on protecting America's forests," said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who called changing the rule an election-year maneuver "to turn over even more land to the timber, oil and gas industries."
There are nine lawsuits in seven states involving the Clinton administration roadless rule.
"They are attempting to short-circuit the process," said Jim Angell of EarthJustice, a non-profit law firm that took the issue to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. "This is an effort by this administration to stop the 10th Circuit Court from reimposing a rule that this administration has fought," he said.
Archaeologists also weighed in against the Bush plan, which could threaten thousands of Anasazi sites in southwestern Colorado.
Tom Carr of the Colorado Historicial Society said that a section of the Piedra River in the San Juan National Forest near Chimney Rock has been protected by the roadless rule.
New roads would make the area accessible to looters and open a center of Anasazi culture to vehicle damage, Carr said.
The impact on wildlife is difficult to estimate, said Michael Saul of the National Wildlife Federation in Boulder.
How the process works
• Petitions: Western governors have 18 months to petition the head of the U.S. Forest Service to change management rules for existing roadless areas.
• Proposals: The Forest Service then proposes management rules on roadless lands for each state.
• Public comment: Each state's proposed rules are open to public comment and National Environmental Policy Act review.
• Rules issued: Any new rules will be issued. But if the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upholds the Clinton-era rule, that rule will stand.
[email protected] or 303-892-5308. Gary Gerhardt, Gargi Chakrabarty and Jim Erickson contributed to this story.
