This can be a very lengthy discussion...
I've been involved with the battle against wilderness for several years now. The bottom line is that there is an abundance of wilderness in Colorado. Truth be told, it's not a bad thing in some areas, the high altitude areas. However, we are getting more shoved down our throats and it's at mid level altitudes where it doesn't make sense. We have already seen heavy human interaction at these levels. It doesn't make sense to make areas that have pipelines, roads and campsites into wilderness. These are also areas that many people enjoy and many cannot hike in 15 miles to get to the deep wilderness.
As far as the impact on animals, I think most of the studies are total BS. I have not seen any proof that one single mammal species has been negatively affected by living in a non-wildereness area. The Canadian Lynx (call this because the f'er comes from Canada, not Colorado) has struggled in Colorado. It's best survival habitat in Colorado has been on Vail Pass, home of a very heavy usage of snowmobiles and hybrid use people. Obviously it is not impacted by snowmobile usage.
90% of the time, when I've had the unfortunate task of working with the Wilderness Workshop (the driving entity of wilderness in Colorado), the reason for wilderness is not "truly" because of an effort to help animals. There is a large disconnect with motorized users and they want to kill our sport. They don't attack ski resorts and the oil industry as hard because they know they don't have a chance. However, take Vail Resorts for example. They have 100 snow cats and probably another 100 snowmobiles. That's a lot of potential fuel and oil spills and terrain impact, but they attack us as individuals because it is much easier to divide an conquer.
Just know that Colorado clubs work hard with COHVO, Blue Ribbon, CSA, WRFA and others to battle these opposing efforts. Join a club. You don't have to go on club rides, parties, meetings or anything else. But you will contribute to the numbers and efforts without doing a thing.