One of four alternatives being offered on the proposed Colorado Roadless Rule was added at the prompting of two private special interest groups, and without prior public review.

Alternative No. 4 to the rule would place 2.6 million acres of Colorado's national forest in the most highly restricted "upper tier" classification.

Alternative No. 4 was pushed by Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

The role of Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership in crafting Alternative No. 4 was acknowledged by Ken Tu, USFS Rocky Mountain Region environmental coordinator, under questioning by the public in Montrose on June 15.

The Montrose session was one of five meetings conducted by the Rocky Mountain regional office to present the proposed Colorado Roadless Rule to the public.

The U.S. Forest Service's proposed Colorado Roadless Rule is open for public comment until July 14.

Tu and Rick Cables, regional forester, explained that Alternative No. 4 had been developed from comments the two interest groups made on a previous draft of the proposed Colorado Roadless Rule.

The concept of upper tier management would place more stringent limits on national forest activities within designated acres. For example, Cables explained that the upper tier classification would allow no exceptions to the prohibition on road building and tree removal, even for reasons of community safety.

Cables also explained that the concept of upper tier acres was not part of the original draft of the proposed Colorado Roadless Rule. The idea was added at a later date by the USFS work group and by state officials only because an Idaho Roadless Rule had included the concept.