WHEREAS: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intends to post notice of intent in the Federal Register to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to amend the Little Snake Resource Management Plan in Northwest Colorado; and
WHEREAS: The above-mentioned plan amendment will attempt to classify the Vermillion Basin of Moffat County, Colorado, as having wilderness character, virtually identical to a Wilderness Study Area, and manage Vermillion Basin to protect its wilderness character, similar to, if not identical to, the Bureau of Land Management’s non-impairment policy; and
WHEREAS: The BLM has no legal authority to proceed with amending its Resource Management Plan for the management of Vermillion Basin for wilderness character; and
WHEREAS: The BLM has refused to address claims from Moffat County and other counties across the west of R.S. 2477 rights-of-way, which distinctly recognizes many roads across federal lands that disqualify Vermillion Basin as well as other areas across the west from meeting the first criteria of wilderness, which is 5000 acres of roadless area; and
WHEREAS: The BLM has not identified the economic impact to Moffat County’s economic base or President Bush’s National Energy Policy from the potential Little Snake Resource Management Plan Amendment to manage for wilderness character in the Vermillion Basin of Moffat County; and
WHEREAS: There is virtually no local support for managing Vermillion Basin for wilderness character as cited by nine public hearings and tours and one survey sponsored by many stakeholders as well as the Moffat County Land Use Board within the last year to specifically address wilderness issues;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that CLUB 20 opposes the Bureau of Land Management’s intention to publish in the Federal Register their intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to amend the Little Snake Resource Management Plan in Northwest Colorado.
Adopted September 7, 2001