Reversal of Roadless Rule Could Devastate National Forests

WASHINGTON, DC, May 4, 2004 (ENS) - Potential changes by the Bush administration to the roadless rule threaten to destroy the pristine and wild character of more than 32 million acres of public land, according to a series of reports released by a forest advocacy group. The administration has already rolled back roadless protections for Alaska's Tongass National Forests and intends to further revise the rule, which conservationists say is one of the most popular and important conservation initiatives in the nation's history.

"Despite overwhelming public support and their own promises to uphold the Roadless Rule, the Bush administration has been chipping away at the rule for three years, and it is becoming apparent they would like to shred it altogether," said Robert Vandermark, co-director of the Heritage Forests Campaign, which is an alliance of conservation groups.

The alliance released the new reports today to mark the three year anniversary of U.S. Agriculture Department Secretary Ann Veneman's pledge to uphold the provision of the rule, which was put into effect in January 2001 during the last days of the Clinton administration.

Critics contend Veneman has already run afoul of that pledge.

The rule bans road building for commercial activities within some 58 million acres - or one third - of the national forests, but it does allow new roads if needed to fight fires or to protect public health and safety.

Passions run high over protection for roadless areas, such as this tract within Montana's Kootenai National Forest. (Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service )

They contend road building in these roadless areas only further subsidizes the timber industry and note that the Forest Service already faces a maintenance backlog of $8.4 billion for its 380,000 mile network of forest roads.

More than two million Americans submitted comments on the rule during the federal rulemaking process, with more than 90 percent in favor of the rule.

But the Bush administration sees the rule as too broad and restrictive. In addition to lifting the rule from the Tongass - the nation's largest national forest - it has proposed amending the regulation to allow individual exemptions for states.

That decision could come as early as this month. In March, Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey told Congress that the Forest Service would soon propose its replacement for the Roadless Rule.

Rey noted the legal battles surrounding the rule as good cause for the new policy - nine lawsuits involving seven states have been filed concerning the rule over the past two years.

But critics say the Bush administration ignored a clear opportunity to have the Supreme Court settle the dispute over the rule's legality.

In July a Wyoming federal judge enjoined the rule in Wyoming after ruling it illegally created wilderness areas in violation of the process set up by Congress through the Wilderness Act.

This ruling conflicted with a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that reversed a similar injunction placed on the rule by an Idaho District Court.

The Bush administration decided not to appeal the Wyoming decision to the Supreme Court and has asked the appeals court not to accept an appeal of the decision by conservation group.

The Forest Service's exemption from the roadless rule for the Tongass National Forest will allow logging and new roads in some 300,000 acres of the forest. (Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service)

The repercussions of those revisions will aid the timber industry at the expense of many of the nation's last remaining wild places, according to the new reports by the Heritage Forests Campaign.

The reports profile roadless areas in national forests across 12 states, documenting acreage that has been lost due to logging and road building prior to the creation of the roadless rule.

They identify examples of roadless areas in national forests that could meet a similar fate if the roadless rule is reversed.

The campaign's analysis of government statistics finds that a reversal of the rule could result in the complete loss of roadless forests in 11 states.

There are nearly 16 million acres of roadless areas in Idaho and Montana's national forests that are protected by the rule.

If it is reversed by the Bush administration, 9.5 million acres, or 60.5 percent of those areas would be immediately made available for logging and road building, according to the campaign.

The reports find 60 percent - 9.5 million acres - of roadless areas in Idaho and Montana's national forests would be made immediately available for logging and road building if the rule is reversed.

The 147,000 acres of roadless areas in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin would be vulnerable, as would 1.2 million of the 1.9 million acres of Oregon's national forests that are currently protected by the rule.

In addition, the national forests of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia would immediately face the potential for road building and logging in 76 percent of their remaining roadless areas.

The reports can be found here.