The Pitkin County commissioners have rekindled the idea of taking a much tougher regulatory stance on natural gas drilling in the Thompson Divide area west of Carbondale, according to the Aspen Times.

The commissioners want to augment certain state requirements by demanding more financial security for environmental cleanup measures in the event of spills or leaks associated with natural gas production. A year ago, the board of commissioners backed off in its review of tough new regulations because of the potential for litigation.

That scenario still seems likely given that the company holding the majority of oil and gas leases in the Thompson Divide area, Houston-based SG Interests, is currently suing Gunnison County over its regulations.

A community activist group called the Thompson Divide Coalition has been pushing to see most of the federal lands in the area – more than 220,000 acres – excluded from future oil and gas development.

Pitkin County in the past has tried to get the federal government to sign onto an overall drilling ban in the 2.3 million-acre White River National Forest, arguing the essentially industrial process is incompatible with a tourism and resort-based economy.

“[The tougher county regulations] just kind of got stalled out,” Cindy Houben, head of the county’s Community Development Department, told the Times. “It’s hard to make a move in the direction we want to make a move in without having controversy. At some point, we just need to move forward.”

SG Interests has filed an application with the Bureau of Land Management to use its 16 leases in the area. A Denver attorney for SG said of the proposed new regulations: “Pitkin County’s proposed ordinance is perhaps the most far-reaching, if not to say over-reaching, example of local oil and gas regulations that I have seen.”

Polis said his scaled-down alternative to the massive four-county Hidden Gems proposal has garnered broad consensus and is ready for legislative action.

“Our mountain landscapes are something that we take great pride in here in Colorado,” Polis said in a release. “These areas are essential to our economy and our environment, and through this legislation we can ensure that more of our beautiful areas are preserved and can be enjoyed by our children for years to come.”

The discussion draft (pdf), entitled the Eagle and Summit County Wilderness Preservation Act, would protect a number of pristine Colorado wild areas by designating some areas as wilderness – in which motorized travel and industrial development such as mining, logging and oil and gas production is prohibited – and designating others that have outstanding community needs as special management areas.

The special management areas include public lands used by the Colorado Army National Guard’s High-Altitude Army Aviation Training Site (HAATS) at the Eagle County Regional Airport, where military helicopter pilots from around the world learn to fly in hot, high altitude conditions similar to areas of Afghanistan and Iraq.

This bill would designate nearly 90,000 new acres of wilderness and preserve an additional estimated 80,000 acres as special management areas or companion designations. Click here for a topographic map (pdf) and here for a section-by-section description of the draft plan (pdf).

“This discussion draft is the result of many long hours spent bringing stakeholders together, poring over maps, and finding and building consensus within the community,” Polis said. “We went to great efforts to take into account the reasonable needs of users and residents on all sides, and have produced a product that is ready to advance through the legislative process.”

Polis emphasized the draft is not final and he’s still open to changes, but he hopes to introduce a bill this fall preserving areas ready for legislation while working on other areas that still need broader consensus.

In discussing the history leading up to the current draft, Polis said the much larger Hidden Gems proposal (more than 300,000 acres in four counties) started the process, but Polis added said public input really shaped the current draft and he reserves the right to introduce additional wilderness legislation at a future date.

“This proposal should by no means be considered a ‘comprehensive’ or ‘Hidden Gems’ wilderness bill,” Polis said. “There is still an ongoing discussion about other potential wilderness areas, and I will continue working with local governments, residents, and stakeholders on issues and areas that this legislation doesn’t address.”

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The proposal is still being drafted – and seeking a congressional sponsor – but basically proponents hope to lock up more than 400,000 acres of the White River and Gunnison National Forests, as well as some nearby BLM land, with a wilderness designation that would prohibit wheeled traffic, road building and development of any kind.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis

Most of Hidden Gems would impact the White River National Forest — by far the state’s most popular for recreational users — which Forest Service officials recommend should get about 82,000 additional acres of wilderness protection.

Off-road enthusiasts such as ATV riders and snowmobilers have rallied en masse to fight the proposal, jamming local meetings with “passionate” backers of open access. But conservationists counter our public lands are getting used to death, and they also want to block extractive industries such as oil and gas.

Polis, whose sprawling Second Congressional District reaches from Boulder to western Eagle County and includes much of the White River National Forest, looks like a likely congressional sponsor under the Wilderness Act of 1964.

In a recent letter to local papers, Polis said his office will begin hosting local open houses in the coming weeks and months to gauge public sentiment and narrow down the most appropriate areas of the national forest for wilderness designation. It’s clear, though, he’s expecting a public and political battle royal.

“Undoubtedly and unfortunately, extreme points of view will enter this discussion, but we must all work together to put passions aside and stick to the facts,” Polis wrote.

“My office has already heard some examples of confusion and misinformation and I hope that I can be helpful in getting to the bottom of any questions and concerns. Individuals have cited old or incorrect maps and trails, have confused the ‘Hidden Gems’ wilderness proposal with other proposals, have heard incorrect timeframes, have assumed that draft proposals are final, or are unaware of solutions that are being worked out between opposing viewpoints. This is exactly why process counts in the question of wilderness designation.”

Polis also invited public comment by phone at his Frisco office at (970) 668-3240 or his Boulder office at (303) 484-9596), and online comment at www.polis.house.gov.

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“The Hidden Gems Wilderness Proposal would counteract the increasing pressures of extractive development and motorized use,” Ralston said Monday at a fly fishing outfitter in this mountain town at the base of Beaver Creek ski area. “It would protect our last remaining unspoiled places, while still permitting development and motors in places where they are appropriate.”

Proponents of Hidden Gems, which would protect as wilderness more than 400,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service and BLM land, point to Forest Service statistics they say show non-motorized users far outnumber motorized users in the state’s increasingly popular White River National Forest. Wilderness designation prohibits motorized and wheeled uses such as mountain biking, motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles.

Hikers, backpackers, climbers, kayakers, cross-country skiers and snowshoers outnumber motorized users by a 4-to-1 margin, according to 2007 user statistics compiled by the Forest Service. Downhill skiing and snowboarding at developed ski resorts, which are not in designated or proposed wilderness areas, are by far the most popular uses in the White River, but Hidden Gems backers exclude those statistics.

A political battle is shaping up over the proposal, which backers are shopping for congressional support. A group calling itself the White River Forest Alliance, comprised of motorized users, claims to have collected more than 700 signatures from people opposing the proposal, and a group called the Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association also opposes the plan, although it doesn’t want to be associated with motorized users.

According to the Aspen Times, the White River Forest Alliance backs the Forest Service finding that approximately 82,000 acres of the White River are suitable for wilderness designation. Representatives also say they would be more supportive if proponents were merely looking to block extractive industries such as mining and logging rather than broadly prohibit motorized recreation as well.

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Mountain bikers, snowmobilers, dirt bikers and other off-road enthusiasts have rallied to defeat or dramatically scale back the so-called Hidden Gems plan, which, if it can find a sponsor in Congress, could designate between 400,000 and 450,000 acres of the White River and Gunnison national forests as wilderness area. That designation prohibits all mechanized travel.

In an excellent primer on the topic in the Aspen Times today, veteran reporter Scott Condon spells out what’s at stake and who all the players are. The lead environmental group is the Aspen-based Wilderness Workshop, although several others are involved.

Opposition is coming from a group of off-road users called the White River Forest Alliance, and from a mountain-biking group called the Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association.

Impacted counties include Pitkin, Eagle, Garfield, Summit and Gunnison, and U.S. Rep. John Salazar, whose 3rd District includes Gunnison, Garfield and Pitkin counties, has said he needs to see broad-based local support from town councils and boards of county commissioners before he’ll considering sponsoring a bill. U.S. Rep. Jared Polis represents the 2nd District, which includes Eagle and Summit Counties.

While the U.S. Forest Service has previously identified 82,000 acres of the 2.3 million acre White River National Forest that should be protected as wilderness, Wilderness Workshop wants to see nearly five times the amount of acreage protected. Currently about 750,000 acres of the White River are designated wilderness.

The public now has until Jan. 6 of next year to comment on the proposal and its various options. The Forest Service’s preferred option acknowledges the explosion in popularity in recent years of off-road vehicles such as ATV’s and actually takes the controversial step of adopting 280 miles of so-called “rogue” roads illegally carved out of the landscape by off-roaders.

Sloan Shoemaker, executive director of Aspen’s Wilderness Workshop, told the Aspen Daily News he is leery of sanctioning such activities.

“That’s the kind of use I don’t feel should be rewarded by bringing an abandoned route into the system and legitimizing it,” Shoemaker said. “We’re looking to make sure there’s big wild spaces left between the roads so that the wildlife who rely on this habitat have the opportunity to continue to persist.”

The White River has become a victim of its own popularity in the last decade, with Colorado’s booming population of outdoor enthusiasts often clashing on skis, snowshoes, ATVs, snowmobiles and horseback. Conflicts between various user groups prompted the lengthy travel management plan process, which seeks to better designate areas of use and types of use.

The White River National Forest is the “top recreational Forest in the nation.” It boasts premier skiing-in the likes of Aspen, Vail, Snowmass, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek among many others. There is also drilling, mining, grazing, and lumbering mixed in with hunting, ATVs, horseback riding, snowmobiling, and hiking. The 2.3 million acre national forest is also the birthplace of The Wilderness.