“Colorado Policy” protecting BLM wildlands in danger

Since the early 1990s, citizen-proposed wilderness on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Colorado have enjoyed at least a basic level of protection from activities that would compromise their wilderness values, including energy exploration development, construction of roads, new structures, mining, motorized recreation, and logging. In the face of fast-tracked energy development, these protections are under attack.

Known in the vernacular as “The Colorado Policy,” these protections in a nutshell prevent the BLM from engaging in management activities in citizen-proposed wilderness areas that may result in irretrievable or irreversible impacts without first reconsidering in a public forum the wilderness qualities of the areas.

While the BLM is obliged by law to protect its own Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) from activities that could damage or diminish characteristics that make them eligible for wilderness designation, no statutory protection exists for other potential wilderness, including areas proposed by citizens.

Hence, without this policy, citizens would have little recourse under existing law to prevent major oil and gas development or a logging project from occurring in citizen-proposed wilderness. In Colorado, citizen-proposed wilderness amounts to just under 800,000 acres.

The Colorado Mountain Club will continue to battle to retain these critical interim protections for our 800,000 acres of our last remaining low-elevation wildlands. Clearly, the new emphasis by the Bush administration on energy production on public lands needs to be balanced with deliberate and effective protection of our most sensitive and unique places. P