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  Home Page » News » Hunters Anglers Want Colo To Nix Roadless Plan

Hunters, anglers want Colo. to nix roadless plan

by Judith Kohler
Associated Press Writer DENVER - Some of the hunters and anglers who supported Gov. Bill Ritter when he ran for office say the Democrat is not living up to his campaign pledge to protect Colorado's 4 million acres of roadless national forest land.

Conservationists have asked Ritter before to change or withdraw the roadless plan because of loopholes they fear will leave the roadless areas less protected than comparable land in every other state.

This week, as a federal advisory panel considers the plan, some of those groups are challenging Ritter to make good on what they say was a promise in his 2006 campaign to support responsible development and protect vital wildlife habitat.

"We've begged, pleaded to get him to make it right, and he hasn't done it. Now we're down to the point of asking him, 'Why?'" David Petersen of the conservation group Trout Unlimited said Wednesday.

Petersen was a member of the state task force that wrote the plan in 2006. He opposed the final version, first submitted to the federal government by former Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican.

Ritter was on an Asian trade mission and unavailable for comment.

The governor, who sought support from hunters, anglers and conservationists during his campaign, has called Colorado's plan an insurance policy because of conflicting court decisions on a 2001 federal ban on about 58 million acres of forest land nationwide.

A federal court in San Francisco has upheld the 2001 rule by the Clinton administration and tossed out a Bush administration policy, which opened some of the land to development. A federal court in Wyoming has overturned the Clinton-era rule.

The 2001 road-building ban is the law of the land, opponents of Colorado's proposal believe. State officials say there's too much legal uncertainty.

Federal appeals courts in Denver and San Francisco are expected eventually to weigh in.

"We're committed to getting this done right," said Harris Sherman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.