Forest Service Issues Final Roadless Rule

January 11, 2001
Capitol Trails Broadcast for AHS Alliance Members & Partners FOREST SERVICE ISSUES FINAL ROADLESS RULE

On January 5, 2001 the Clinton Administration made history by completing the Roadless Area Conservation Final Rule, protecting nearly 60 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in national forests and grasslands.

American Hiking Society and the conservation community commend the Clinton Administration for the final roadless protection rule. The proposal represents one of the most significant conservation initiatives in the last 100 years.

What Does the Final Rule Do?

• 1) Prohibits new road construction and reconstruction in inventoried roadless areas on National Forest System lands, except:
  - to protect health and safety in cases of flood, fire, or other catastrophic threats.
  - to conduct environmental clean up required by federal law.
  - to allow for reserved or outstanding rights provided for by statute or treaty.
  - to prevent irreparable resource damage by an existing road or rectify existing hazardous road conditions.
  - where a road is part of a Federal Aid Highway project or needed in conjunction with existing mineral leases.
• 2) Prohibits cutting, sale, and removal of timber in inventoried roadless areas, except:
  - to maintain or improve roadless characteristics and:
  - to improve habitat for threatened, endangered, proposed, or sensitive species, or
  - to maintain or restore ecosystem composition and structure, such as reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects.
  - for personal or administrative use.
  - where roadless characteristics have been substantially altered due to road construction and subsequent timber harvest occurring prior to the publication date of this rule.
• 3) Applies immediately to the ecologically significant Tongass National Forest in Alaska, including a transition provision that allows existing projects to continue.

The final rule affects 58.5 million acres, or 31 percent of Forest Service lands, in 39 states. Roadless areas are critical to ecosystem protection, including water quality, wildlife, and vegetation-all valued pieces of the hiking experience. Roadless areas provide myriad opportunities for dispersed recreation and are particularly important to hikers seeking solitude and escape in wild backcountry and outstanding natural areas.

BACKGROUND:
The Clinton Administration--recognizing the importance of national forest roadless areas for their recreational, habitat, and watershed values--first announced its intent to protect national forest roadless areas more than three years ago. In October 1999, President Clinton directed the Forest Service to develop a policy to protect up to 60 million acres of these roadless, wild lands. In May 2000, the Forest Service released its draft plan to implement Clinton's proposal. In November 2000, the Forest Service released its Final Environmental Impact Statement, which was adopted almost entirely in the final rule released in January 2001.

The Forest Service received almost two million responses to the roadless initiative over the last year with more than 95% supporting the strongest possible protection for our wild forests. The outpouring of public support was one of the main factors that led the President to provide this conservation legacy.

Several western Republican Congress Members vehemently oppose the final rule, but overturning the regulation will be extremely challenging.