Obama admin dips toe into legal fray over conflicting roadless rule decisions

Thursday’s court filing by the Department of Justice in the 10th Circuit Court in Wyoming, which has federal jurisdiction over Colorado, indicating the DOJ will appeal two previous rulings against the 2001 Clinton roadless rule is a strong sign which…

Despite federal ruling, Colorado sticks to its guns on roadless rule

While conservation groups called Wednesday’s federal appeals court decision reinstating the Clinton-era roadless rule a major victory, the state of Colorado contends its own revised rule is still a far more practical way of managing the state’s 4.2 million roadless acres.

Mike King, deputy director of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources, said Wednesday that the 2001 Clinton rule, which provided sweeping protections against road building on nearly 60 million acres of largely undeveloped public lands nationwide, did not take into consideration wildfire mitigation or other critical economic drivers.