Colorado officials push for forest-road rule
By Bruce Finley, The Denver Post
Colorado officials are making an intense final push to establish their own rule for managing the last roadless national forests in the state.
It would allow some roads for industrial development — including the expansion of coal mining and ski resorts — and for removal of beetle-killed trees near communities.
Conservationists say this is intolerable kowtowing to special interests.
According to a Federal Register notice, the Obama administration will decide next month between the state rule and a legally buttressed national rule. The state rule would restrict road-building and tree-cutting on about 4.2 million acres. The national rule bans roads on 4.4 million acres of the 14.5 million acres of national forest in Colorado.
Read more about the push and what different groups have to say about it.
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