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This is absolutely wonderful news:

In a major victory for environmentalists and others who support conservation on public lands, a federal district court on Wednesday reinstated the 2001 Roadless Rule which bars further road construction in National Forests around the country.

The Bush Administration had repealed the rule upon taking office, and eventually replaced it with a plan under which individual states could develop their own plans for roadless areas and petition the Forest Service to implement them. But the states of California, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana and Washington, as well as a large coalition of environmental groups, sued to block the change, while Idaho, Alaska and a consortium of off-road vehicle groups joined the Forest Service in defending it.

On Wednesday Federal Judge Elizabeth Laporte ruled in favor of the roadless supporters, saying the Forest Service had violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act by not examining the potential environmental consequences of the change.

The fact that so many Western states joined together to oppose the change and work to reinstate the rule shows you just how much environmental politics have changed over the past 20 years. In many cases, the forests are worth more to the surrounding communities in an undeveloped state than would be if they were carved up with roads, pipelines, and other resource extraction related activities. Economically, it makes more sense for them to preserve the land than it does to develop it. And although Westerners understand this, most Republican politicians in DC haven't the first clue.

Nothing about this debate is new. In fact, the formation of separate national Park and Forest Services back in the early years of the twentieth century was driven by precisely this same conflict. Where the Forests were formed to maximize the economic value of the land through its development, the Parks were designed to maximize value by limiting development.

The trouble, of course, has always been that the Parks and Forests sit next to one another, and that to preserve the scenic value of the parks, the development of forests often had to be limited. On top of that, as interest in outdoor recreation exploded over the course of the twentieth century, all of our Forests saw a huge surge in recreational use as well. And since no one - and I do mean no one - wants to camp, fish, hike, or hunt on land that has been developed, the USFS has gradually had to adapt to become more like the NPS.

What's most interesting to me is that back in the 1980's, when the Reagan Realignment and the Sagebrush Rebellion were taking place simultaneously, this transformation was only just getting underway. By and large, Reagan's "smaller government is better government" message resonated with Westerners. Resource extraction was still one of the dominant industries in the region, far exceeding recreation related activities in economic importance. But sine then the two industries have virtually switched places, and it is now recreation that in many places drives economic growth. As a result, the anti-enviro, anti-government message has not only lost resonance, it has become dangerous to the region's economic health. Environmental protections have, in short, become an economic asset rather than a liability.

All of which suggests it is time for a political realignment out West. Or, perhaps more accurately, that one is already underway. Colorado has already begun to go blue. So too have Montana, Arizona, and New Mexico. Even Nevada and Wyoming are showing signs of trending towards the Dems.

If my reading of the political history of the West is correct, a fairly major shift is in the works, one that could help transform American politics for a generation. The early signs are there, but at this point a Western realignment is far from a foregone conclusion. And although this year's elections should give us some additional signs, I don't think we'll know for sure until 2008. Stay tuned...