Right now, logging interests are gathering signatures for a Colorado ballot initiative (308) that would divert a sales tax to fund potentially millions more acres of public lands clearcutting, as well as industrial logging in endangered species habitat, old-growth forest, and protected Roadless Areas, all under the cover of recreation and “conservation.”

Of course, you’d never know this because the petition language is not only designed to deceive, it makes outright false claims that may turn out to be unconstitutional in Colorado.

NGO Greenwash

The measure’s main backer, the $1.8 billion annual budget “working lands” NGO, The Nature Conservancy, employs former Trump admin officials, House Republican leadership aides, and anti-environmental, pro-fossil fuels conservative think tank operatives as lobbyists. TNC has taken hundreds of millions in federal funding to carry out industrial logging, livestock ranching, and other schemes on public lands.

Yes, the same The Nature Conservancy—along with initiative co-backers Western Resource Advocates and Conservation Colorado—that testified against a recent statehouse bill that would’ve funded home hardening grants (the only proven way to protect communities from wildfire) for low-income, elderly, and disabled Coloradans.

These well-funded NGOs are pushing the Clearcut Initiative after ignoring a letter from twenty Colorado conservation groups asking if there would be any limits whatsoever to the scale and scope of the logging they wish to finance…the letter didn’t even get a response.

Facts are, there is almost no science proving logging can keep wildfire from reaching communities, though plenty of peer-reviewed evidence suggests the opposite as tree removal heats up and dries out the forest and opens it up to wind, which spreads flames and embers. The best pro-“fuel reduction” argument is that some understory removal in some forests might sometimes lessen the severity of some lower intensity fires already easily contained by firefighters and considered “good fire” by the above entities. High-severity wildfire, which causes the vast majority of property destruction and loss of life, is a product of weather (drought, high temperatures) and wind, not forest density.

Okay, but just because the Clearcut Initiative would fund logging at the expense of ecosystems, wildlife, and actual community protection from wildfire (home hardening) doesn’t mean it’s unconstitutional, right?

False Claims

First of all, the petition circulating in front of grocery stores claims an outright falsehood that not even the U.S. Forest Service, which carries out the federal timber sale program and hundreds of thousands of acres of “fuel reduction” logging every year, will promulgate.

In specific, the language promises, “a portion of revenue from the state sales tax on sporting goods and equipment to conserve and protect Colorado’s water, land, and forests, prevent wildfires, support outdoor recreation training and activities…” Did you catch it?

I’m not talking about the Orwellian nonsense that more logging than the state has seen since the gold rush will somehow “conserve and protect Colorado’s water, land, and forests.” That’s of course the opposite of true, but one could disingenuously claim all they mean is reducing the severity of lower intensity fires to weasel in within the letter of the law.

The outright lie—and it is a lie because it’s a falsehood known to be untrue by those perpetuating it—is the idea that logging can in any way shape or form, under any circumstances, “prevent wildfires.”

Find the most pro-management “study” sponsored by logging interests and you might find some hinting in that direction, but they’d never say those exact words. Why not? Because that would defy physics.

Think about it. In what way could the removal of trees “prevent” a wildfire? So far as natural fires are concerned, it’s of course impossible to stop lightning strikes. And since 84 percent of wildfires are human caused, the best method to keep them from starting is by increasing patrolling and shutting down old logging roads, as an estimated 94.9 percent of human-caused wildfires start within a half mile of roads. 3 to 10 percent of wildfires are caused by power lines, so other effective preventative measures might be burying and/or upgrading them, trimming vegetation that might fall on the lines (not beyond that), and better monitoring.

Instead, the Clearcut Initiative would do the polar opposite of “prevent wildfires” by opening up more forests to more logging, more roads, and more people.

It’s like having a ballot initiative vowing to teach people how to jump off roofs and fly like Superman. It’s inaccurate, it’s ridiculous, and it may be unconstitutional.

Single Subject Rule

See, there’s something in the Colorado Constitution called the “Single Subject Rule.” Article V, Section 1 states as follows, “No measure shall be proposed by petition containing more than one subject…”

A memorandum from the Office of Legislative Legal Services of the Colorado General Assembly goes on explain one main purpose of the rule is “to avoid ‘log-rolling’ (the joining together of unrelated measures to gain votes for passage of a measure).”

Yet here’s the petition language again: “a portion of revenue from the state sales tax on sporting goods and equipment to conserve and protect Colorado’s water, land, and forests, prevent wildfires, support outdoor recreation training and activities…”

Whether you agree with them or not, falsely claiming to “protect” land and water by logging, the absurdity that logging can “prevent wildfires,” and supporting industrial recreation are three different things, and frankly at cross purposes. Talk about “log-rolling,” eh?

Colorado’s Initiative and Title Board is responsible for approving language for signature gathering. So how did that government body greenlight a Clearcut Initiative that not only makes false claims but appears to violate the Single Subject Rule?

Clearcutting Colorado

The uncomfortable truth is that the State of Colorado doesn’t just spend tens of millions in taxpayer dollars every year on public lands logging. It also takes tens of millions in federal dollars to destroy these forest ecosystems, including at least $26 million from the U.S. Forest Service in 2025 alone.

Facts are, despite being a “Blue State,” Colorado’s policies on logging public lands march lockstep with the Trump administration’s executive order to expand timber production and its subsequent declaration of a fake “wildfire emergency” across 59 percent of National Forests to fast track getting out the cut.

Tragically, what this may mean is our state government has rubber stamped a Clearcut Initiative that would both shred Colorado’s wildlands and constitution into pieces while not only doing nothing to protect communities from wildfire but likely increasing the threat to our homes, livelihoods, and lives.

If you live in Colorado and want to help protect Colorado’s public lands and communities, please email coloradosmokescreen@proton[.]me today!