Representatives McInnis and Musgrave ask Secretary of the Interior to remove protections to proposed wilderness

by Vera Smith

Endorsing a letter sent on March 7, 2003 from the Western Caucus to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Representatives McInnis (CO-3) and Musgrave (CO-4) asked that interim protections to proposed wilderness areas be removed so that wilderness-quality lands can be made available to extractive uses such as mining, energy development, and off-road vehicle riding.  

They asked Secretary Norton to rescind the Bureau of Land Management National Wilderness Handbook, a set of policies that guide BLM field managers in managing lands identified with wilderness qualities but not yet inventoried or assessed.  

The Handbook outlines the procedure the BLM implements to assess, with public input, the wilderness qualities of the land and, if they find wilderness qualities, makes a recommendation to Congress for or against wilderness designation. 

Colorado citizens, including CMC members, identified 1.35 million acres of BLM lands as qualifying for wilderness designation, and presented the information to BLM as the Citizens’ Wilderness Proposal.  About 500,000 acres of this proposal are protected only under the policies set forth in the Wilderness Handbook.  Without it, these lands would be vulnerable to energy and mineral development as well as off-road vehicle use, forever losing their wilderness character.

CMC conservation staff believe that the Handbook provides a fair, equitable, and effective approach to planning the future of the last remaining wild and undeveloped places on BLM land.  It does not mandate that proposed wilderness areas automatically become wilderness; instead, it assures the public that the BLM pause to consider the wilderness values on their lands, and plan accordingly, as they are required to do by law.

Conservation organizations warn that without the Handbook their only recourse in saving these last undeveloped places will be in court. 

Representative McInnis is constantly expressing his frustration with the number of lawsuits filed over land management disputes.  Ironically, the Handbook that he wants to rescind prevents lawsuits by providing a public planning process for wilderness evaluations.  P