DENVER - Hunters and anglers who were courted by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter in his election campaign last fall are now asking him to throw out or revamp a plan his Republican predecessor endorsed for protecting 4.1 million acres of national forest land.

Ritter responded Friday by sending a letter to Regional Forester Rick Cables, asking for interim protection for all the state's roadless forest land, including areas nominated for leasing in the White River, Grand Mesa, Uncompaghre, Gunnison, and Manti La Sal national forests.

In his letter, Ritter said he wanted to review the plan crafted by a statewide task force after months of public input. Hunters and anglers said it doesn't protect wildlife and natural resources to the degree that a 2001 Clinton-era rule does.

Others, including some task force members, want Ritter to stick with the petition former Gov. Bill Owens submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service.

All options are on the table, Mike King, deputy director of the state Department of Natural Resources, said Friday.

"This product and the record supporting it are entitled to thoughtful review and I intend to thoroughly consider the recommendations before moving forward," Ritter said in his letter.

Evan Dryer, Ritter's spokesman, said it's possible that Ritter will decline to endorse or modify Owens' petition and just allow a recently reinstated federal rule to apply in Colorado.

Last fall, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco overturned a Bush administration rule that potentially opened 58.5 million acres of roadless national forest land, including 4.1 million acres in Colorado. She said the Bush administration violated federal law in 2005 when it tossed the Clinton-era ban on new roads on forest land without conducting the necessary environmental analysis.

Bush administration officials dispute the finding, which came as states were deciding whether to ask the federal government to keep development off the land. A federal panel was created to review the requests and forward them to the agriculture secretary.

And Colorado's consideration of how to manage the land came as Owens, who couldn't run again because of term limits, was preparing to leave office. The federal government is waiting to see what Ritter wants to do.

Other states petitioned the government after public hearings or reviews, but Colorado was the only one to appoint a task force to come up with a plan. The panel held hearings across the state over nine months.

David Petersen of Durango, a task force member and Trout Unlimited staffer, said while the panel did good work, he hopes Ritter withdraws the petition because the Clinton rule gives more protection to the roadless areas and reflects what an overwhelming majority of Coloradans want.

"At least 90 percent of all Coloradans who commented in writing or in person said what they wanted was full roadless protection," Petersen said.

The task force recommended no new roads on much of the 4.1 million acres scattered across several national forests in Colorado, but included exceptions opposed by some conservation and hunting and fishing groups.

One of the most disputed provisions was removal of about 10,000 acres of forest land leased by ski areas from the inventory of roadless areas. Another would lift restrictions on 80,000 acres used by the North Fork Valley Mine in western Colorado for the life of the mine.

Petersen called those giveaways to the mining and ski industries. He contended other sections on grazing rights and the use of logging and other methods to fight bark beetles and wildfires are so broad that too much land could be opened to new roads.

State Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, a task force member, said he will introduce a resolution soon to show the broad support in the Legislature for leaving the petition intact.

"I know some of the national environmental groups are aggressively pushing (Ritter) to revert back to the 2001 rule," Penry said.

Penry added that legal challenges are expected to the reinstatement of the road-building ban, including from Wyoming, whose lawsuit led to a 2003 federal court decision overturning the rule.

An appeal before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver was pending when the Bush administration issued its policy.

Greg Schaefer, a vice president with Arch Coal Inc. in Wyoming, is a member of the federal advisory panel reviewing the state petitions. He said the land used by the North Fork Valley Mine, owned by Arch Coal, is just a small percentage of Colorado's 4.1 million acres and concerns about it shouldn't derail the state's petition.

"In my mind, this was a reasonable compromise," Schaefer said. "The information was presented to the roadless task force on four different occasions."

But the Colorado Division of Wildlife didn't have the chance to analyze the potential impacts of removing the restrictions on the land bordering the ski areas and the mine, said Eddie Kochman, a task force member and a retired state fisheries manager.

Kochman said he wants Ritter to give state wildlife biologists time to explore the potential impacts on wildlife before submitting his plan.

The 2001 road-building ban was passed in the waning days of the Clinton administration after more than two years of public hearings and 1.6 million comments. About a third of the country's 192 million acres of national forest lands was affected.

Some of the areas protected as roadless have trails and roads, but generally are prized for their pristine qualities and are considered important as wildlife habitat, watersheds, scenic and recreation areas.