Thursday, September 20, 2007

Ambitious plan for more wilderness

A coalition of Colorado conservations groups, including the Wilderness Workshop, the Colorado Environmental Coalition and the Colorado Mountain Club are advocating a multi-year campaign to add approximately 670,000 acres of designated wilderness on the White River National Forest. (Click the map above for a larger picture.) This is eight times as much land as U.S. Forest Service officials have identified in long term plans for wilderness. In a 2002 study, according to this story in the Aspen Times, the forest identified 80,000 acres of land as suitable for wilderness designation. No new wilderness has been designated in Colorado since James Peak Wilderness in 2002. Such a big chunk of land seems like a tall order, but maybe it's a haggling strategy. Start with way more than you think you can get and meet in the middle.

1 comment:

Zen said...

With the pine beetle problems the way they are, they're gonna have one hell of a time getting any of this through. Science aside, there is no question the pendelum of public thought is swinging towards forest management, and away from the hands-off - i.e. wilderness - approach.