Rocky Mountain Region

The proposed Colorado Roadless Rule is a regulation specific to Colorado that provides management direction for approximately four million roadless acres of National Forest System lands in Colorado. A roadless area is generally undeveloped land that is at least 5,000 acres in size or is adjacent to congressionally–designated Wilderness. The proposed rule does two things: 1) establishes Colorado roadless areas by accurately identifying areas with roadless character and 2) provides prohibitions on road–construction and tree–cutting in those roadless areas.

We sought citizen input on the Colorado Roadless Rule and its associated draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). Our goal and that of our Colorado state partner is to use the public´s input to hone the proposed rule into one that best meets the needs of Colorado and its citizens. The 90–day comment period ended October 23, 2008.

On July 25, 2008, the U.S. Forest Service, working closely with the State of Colorado, released for public comment the proposed Colorado Roadless Rule designed to meet the specific needs of Colorado and its citizens in providing consistent management direction for Colorado´s roadless areas. It is intended to replace a national 2001 Roadless Rule that has been the subject of litigation since its promulgation.

Once public input is received and considered and the proposed rule is finalized and promulgated, the Colorado Roadless Rule will provide management direction for about four million roadless acres of the 14.5 million acres of National Forest System lands in Colorado.

 

What´s next?

• The period for public and internal comments closed October 23, 2008. The Forest Service received approximately 105,000 responses to the Draft EIS and proposed rule. The comments are being carefully considered, and the final rule and final environmental impact statement (FEIS) are being developed. Thank you for your input.
• Responses to public comments on the DEIS will be included in the FEIS Appendix and the final rule preamble.
• We are currently working with the State of Colorado to finalize the final rule language.
• The final rule and FEIS are subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and relevant federal agencies, such as the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency.
• We expect to publish the FEIS in fall 2009.
• The record of decision (ROD) on the FEIS and the final rule are expected to be published no sooner than 30 days after the FEIS is published in the Federal Register.