Most supporters of wilderness are just
espresso-sipping urbanites, right? Not so, according to a survey of
500 Colorado voters, released in April by a coalition of
environmental groups. “We’re talking about four out of five
Coloradans,” says Elise Jones of the League of Conservation Voters’
Boulder office. “These are pretty bomb-proof numbers.” The poll,
conducted by Talmey-Drake Research, an independent consultant,
found that support for expanded Bureau of Land Management
wilderness areas hovered around 80 percent on both the Front Range
and the Western Slope. About 800,000 acres of BLM land in Colorado
have interim wilderness protection, and the agency has been
collecting public comments on an additional 167,000 acres in
western Colorado that are now eligible for wilderness status (HCN,
3/2/98). Colorado environmental groups want to see more than 1
million BLM acres protected as wilderness, and Jones says the poll
proves it’s a popular idea throughout the state. Not everyone is on
board, however: A resolution before the state Legislature would
stop the BLM from providing temporary protection to land being
considered for wilderness status. For more information about the
survey, contact the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund in
Boulder at 303/442-6986.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Survey says: Go wild!.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
