roadless rules

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday issued a memorandum essentially blocking most development and road building on more than 53 million acres of national forest (4.4 million in Colorado) designated as roadless areas.

Nothing says Wild West, summer road-trip, vacation with the kids quite like dipping a gold pan in a chilly Rocky Mountain stream, taking a burro ride along a dusty mining trail, or sifting for fool’s gold in a sluice box. But a new twist this summer could be rollicking in the yellow-cake uranium at one [...]

The Bush administration appears to be charging even harder down the road to a new Colorado roadless rule despite a meeting of a U.S. Forest Service advisory group in Washington earlier this month that revealed numerous problems with the plan.

This is the Bush administration’s last chance to implement its vision of how to administer pristine forest and park land. While in the Senate, President-elect Obama opposed the Bush administration’s plans for roadless areas.