Advocacy

Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Review

After nearly two years of work, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) released a draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (CCP/EIS) for the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge in February 2004. The draft CCP/EIS outlined the management direction and strategies for refuge operations, habitat restoration and visitor services for the next 15 years.

The draft document and additional information is available at http://rockyflats.fws.gov/index.htm

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service developed four management alternatives for Rocky Flats.

Two of the proposals would allow various levels of public access (Alternatives B & D). Alternative A ("the do nothing proposal") and Alternative C (the "ecological restoration proposal") would essentially ban public access. In order to have access at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Area we needed to tell the Fish and Wildlife Service what we wanted, so BMA prepared and submitted the following comments on the draft plan.

We support the Fish and Wildlife Service's Proposed Action (Alternative B) with some enhancements. We believe there are components of Alternative D that should be included in the proposed alternative to better meet the Fish and Wildlife objectives. Specific items we recommend include:

The draft CCP comment period closed April 26, 2004 and the Service is now preparing a final CCP. We'll keep you informed of the results.