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Campaign Updates>
Penry Forest Bill Endorsed
June 10, 2006
Owens sets state on road to forest plan
Friday, June 10, 2005
When Gov. Bill Owens signed Senate Bill 243 during a
ceremony at U.S. Forest Service headquarters in Delta
Wednesday, he ensured that Colorado will be among the first
states in the West working to meet the requirements of a
Bush administration edict regarding millions of acres of
roadless national forest lands.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction,
and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, will establish a 13-member
committee to review national forest lands in Colorado and
recommend to Owens which are truly roadless and should
remain so and which should be open to activities such as
logging, gas drilling and off-road-vehicle use. Owens will
then make a recommendation on those lands to President
George W. Bush.
The lands in Colorado — some 4.4 million acres — are part
of the 58 million acres throughout the West that President
Bill Clinton declared roadless during the waning days of
his administration.
While many Americans and environmental groups supported
that ruling, others from Western states fought it,
successfully challenging the measure in court.
We agree with Owens that Clinton’s broadbrush action was
“indefensible, even if one agrees with the outcome.” While
there are undoubtedly millions of acres among those
designated roadless by Clinton that deserve some form of
special protection, we have long argued for a more
localized approach that takes into account local knowledge
of geography and considers input from a variety of
interests.
The committee authorized by SB 243 is designed to do just
that. With members appointed by both the governor and
legislative leaders, it will be bipartisan and diverse.
We’re glad to see the governor not only signed the bill,
but strongly supported it and demonstrated its importance
to the state with this week’s signing. We hope that the
Bush team will invest as much importance in the roadless
recommendations from this state as it did in overturning
the
Clinton rule.
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