There is a hole in the proposed Colorado Roadless Rule big enough to swallow a 100,000-acre wilderness. The Clear Fork Divide Roadless areas lie at the far eastern end of the Grand Mesa. This
area contains some of the richest wildlife habitat and finest hunting grounds that can be found in Colorado.

I had the great pleasure of hunting elk up there in the September muzzleloader season. As I roamed the meadow-studded forests I was thrilled by a glimpse of bulls locked horn to horn, and ultimately came home with meat. I packed in 8 miles to an isolated camp, and though there were a dozen rigs at the trailhead, the area is so big I only encountered one other group of hunters. Over the decades I have hunted all over western Colorado, but this season in the Clear Fork ranks right up there with my top hunts.

Sadly, the next generation probably won’t enjoy the same hunting opportunities. About 80 percent of the Clear Fork roadless is leased for gas drilling. With the 2001 Roadless Rule in flip-flopping
limbo for the last 8 years, leases have continued to be sold. This year the 20-inch Bull Mountain gas pipeline was approved by the Forest Service and is under construction through 8 miles of the Roadless areas. The proposed Colorado Roadless Rule would allow drilling on any gas leases sold prior to implementation of the Rule, which won’t happen until 2009 at best.

The bottom line is that the Colorado Roadless Rule would fail to protect this gem that is one of the largest wild Roadless hunting grounds in Colorado. Hunters, we need the politicians to do better
than that.

TONY PRENDERGAST
Crawford

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.