Towering Ponderosa pine in
the San Juan National Forest.
San Juan Citizens
Alliance

Colorado’s
Watersheds, Wildlife, and Recreational Opportunities
Colorado’s roadless areas are the source of most of the state’s
municipal watersheds, providing clean and safe water to Colorado
residents. They include important
habitat for wildlife — both
at-risk species that depend on
large tracts of unbroken habitat and the
big game animals like elk and deer so important to Colorado’s
traditional sporting lifestyle and economy. They provide the setting and
backdrop for
recreational opportunities of all kinds, including the
state’s world-class skiing, hunting and fishing, and backcountry
trekking destinations. Forests without roads provide space for the work
of professional outfitters, whose clients enjoy the rare pleasure of
traveling through unspoiled terrain on horseback or on foot. Roadless
areas offer resources that help support Colorado’s
ranching legacy, as well.

Water is used by anglers to
fish, ranchers to maintain livestock, and citizens everywhere to
drink. Many of the streams favored by anglers cross roadless areas;
many more flow directly from them. All gain their high quality from
the stable soils and stream channels in those natural areas.

More than one-third of
inventoried roadless areas in national forests are adjacent to
federal conservation units—places like National Wildlife Refuges,
National Parks, and Wilderness areas. Preservation of remaining
roadless areas will increase the ability of conservation lands to
support wildlife and the natural processes important to them.

A trio of hikers enjoys a
roadless area in the Uncompahgre National Forest.
Western Resource
Advocates

Healthy
Forests, Healthy Economy
While locals and tourists alike enjoy our National Forests — and the
core of roadless areas within them — for their aesthetic, recreational,
practical, and vocational opportunities, these uses have an important
common thread: together, they comprise the foundation of
Colorado’s economic health.

In 2004, almost $2.3 billion
was spent in Colorado by hunters, anglers, and wildlife watchers
alone, with total spending on outdoor equipment and gear totaling
$1.3 billion in the same year. (1)

Roadless area
ecosystems are critical to the fresh water resources that are
estimated to be worth $241.5 million annually in the Rocky Mountain
Region, with water from all national forests estimated to be valued
at $3.7 billion per year. (2)

Roadless areas provide locations
where fires can be allowed to fulfill their natural, and important,
ecological roles, rather than being routinely suppressed. They
provide opportunity for scientific research, places where we can study
to better understand how the natural world works. Expanses of healthy
forests help slow climate change, absorbing and recycling carbon that
otherwise would clog the atmosphere and alter weather patterns.

Heavily roaded areas are
generally at higher risk of more frequent and more severe
wildfire than roadless areas because:
1) they are generally
lower-altitude, warmer, drier ecosystems; 2) they are visited by more
people, and thus are at greater risk from human-caused fires; and 3) they tend to be areas that have seen heavy logging or more intense
fire suppression efforts, providing a rich source of readily
ignitable fuel.

Roadless areas provide
unique opportunities for scientific research, attracting academic
and industry scientists — and the funding that supports them — to
Colorado.

A photographer enjoys the
Pike-San Isabel National Forest.
The Wilderness
Society

Protecting
the Landscapes We TreasurePerhaps even more
immediately and personally tangible than the water, habitat, economy,
safety, and scientific knowledge found in roadless areas is the special
beauty that defines much of Colorado and inspires our lives. A clear
stream meandering through an untracked grassy meadow or cascading over a
boulder field; an aspen grove silent save the subtle rattle of turning
leaves; a deep forest of tall, dark spruce trees — these are the images
of Colorado that we hold so dear and enjoy sharing with family and
visitors.

Colorado’s forests are essential
to the health of the human spirit, providing wild and natural places for
solitude and adventure. As the rest of the landscape is increasingly
developed and pressures continue to mount on our public lands,
the importance of preserving our remaining roadless areas becomes
paramount.