Thursday, September 17, 2009

Some of Colorado's most pristine places are at risk. While the federal 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects nearly 60 million acres of pristine forests throughout the nation, the state of Colorado continues to move forward with a proposal that would  exempt the state from the national rule, replacing it with a weaker version that could damage some of the most beautiful countryside in Colorado.
Currant Creek, high above the North Fork of the Gunnison River, is one of the places that could be ruined. This distinctly remote and unaltered landscape spans diverse mid-elevation forest landscape hosting aspen, oak and serviceberry. This area is essential to elk calving, mule deer rearing, migration and other seasonal wildlife habitat issues. 
Under the rule Colorado is proposing, Currant Creek would be opened to coal mining and a network of new roads — all far from any existing coal portals and transportation networks.

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